Farmed rabbits are among the least regulated farm animals in terms of welfare, with millions kept in bare wire cages despite strong evidence that they require social housing, platforms, and hiding places for good welfare.
Farmed rabbits in conventional wire cages experience multiple simultaneous welfare harms: the pain of pododermatitis from wire floors, the stress of social isolation or overcrowding, the inability to express the hiding and burrowing behaviours central to rabbit psychology, and the monotony of barren environments. Their natural prey animal psychology makes exposure in bare wire cages chronically stressful. Enriched park systems that provide group housing, raised platforms for resting, hiding areas, and solid or slatted floors dramatically reduce behavioural indicators of stress and physical health problems.