Rabbit slaughter presents distinct welfare challenges due to the sensitivity of these animals to stress, the scale of production, and the frequent absence of mandatory stunning requirements.
Rabbit slaughter welfare suffers from the combined effects of species vulnerability, regulatory gaps, and production scale. Rabbits are prey animals with a highly sensitized fear response — the transportation, lairage, and handling before slaughter causes acute, measurable stress. The regulatory exclusion of rabbits from mandatory pre-slaughter stunning requirements in many jurisdictions means that methods causing prolonged consciousness and distress are legal. Cervical dislocation without prior stunning, when improperly applied, is particularly problematic. The scale of rabbit slaughter — nearly 2 billion individuals annually — makes this a high-impact welfare issue. Mandatory effective stunning and better lairage conditions would substantially reduce suffering.