Rabbits are among the most commonly mistreated pets due to inadequate housing and isolation. Providing appropriate space, companionship and enrichment dramatically improves their welfare.
Rabbit welfare is a chronic crisis in companion animal keeping. The combination of being sold as low-maintenance starter pets, inadequate consumer education and commercially available hutches that are far too small creates widespread suffering on a significant scale. A rabbit confined to a small hutch cannot binky (the joyful leaping behaviour indicating positive welfare), groom properly, or express any of its natural locomotory and social behaviours. The consequences include obesity, spinal problems, gastrointestinal disease and psychological distress. The reforms needed are straightforward — minimum space standards, mandatory pair housing and hay as the dietary foundation — but require better legislation and retail education to implement at scale.