Wild rabbits face numerous pressures including habitat loss, disease, and predation, making conservation of their populations important for ecosystem health.
Wild rabbits experience welfare challenges including disease outbreaks that cause prolonged suffering before death, habitat fragmentation that isolates populations, and predation pressure. Conservation efforts that maintain healthy populations while managing disease prevalence serve both animal welfare and ecosystem health goals. In areas where rabbits are native, maintaining habitat connectivity and controlling introduced diseases benefits individual rabbit welfare. In regions where rabbits are invasive, humane control methods that minimize suffering are important, as unmanaged populations can collapse suddenly due to disease with mass suffering.