Rabbit meat production is significant across Europe and Asia, with most commercial rabbits kept in wire battery cages that deny virtually all natural behavior. A major welfare reform movement is pushing for enriched or group housing.
Farmed rabbit welfare is among the most neglected in European agriculture, despite the scale of production. Conventional wire cages deny rabbits the ability to hop, fully stretch, stand on their hind legs, burrow, or engage in normal social behavior. Wire mesh flooring causes hock sores — chronic painful skin lesions — that affect large proportions of caged populations. The inability to express any natural behavior causes elevated stress hormones and immunosuppression. High mortality rates before slaughter are an industry indicator of poor welfare conditions. Enriched park systems — larger communal pens with elevated platforms, hiding areas, and substrate — show substantially better welfare outcomes and are commercially viable, but industry uptake has been slow without regulatory mandates.