Rabbit meat production involves billions of animals annually in conditions that animal welfare scientists consistently describe as inadequate for the species behavioral needs.
Farmed rabbits represent one of the most neglected major farmed species in welfare terms. The industry operates largely outside public awareness and regulatory scrutiny despite involving enormous numbers of highly sentient animals. Standard cage systems confine rabbits so tightly that they cannot perform their most fundamental natural behaviors: running, jumping, standing upright, or digging. Chronic inactivity causes musculoskeletal problems, and wire floors cause sore hocks that range from mild inflammation to infected open wounds. Group housing in enriched pens with solid flooring, gnawing materials, and elevated platforms dramatically improves welfare and is increasingly demanded by European retailers under supplier codes of conduct. Mortality rates in intensive rabbit production are also extremely high — 15-25% losses from weaning to slaughter are common.