Rabbits are farmed for meat across Europe and Asia in systems that frequently fail to meet their complex behavioral needs. Welfare reform is progressing but the gap between science and practice remains large.
Farmed rabbit welfare is one of the least-regulated and most severely inadequate areas of commercial animal agriculture. Individual cage systems provide space far below what is physiologically or psychologically adequate for a species adapted for running and social living. Rabbits in isolation develop fear responses and abnormal repetitive behaviors. Wire flooring — standard in conventional rabbit farming — causes sore hocks, joint damage, and fractures in animals whose anatomy is not adapted for living on wire. Social housing in enriched pens with elevated platforms, tunnels, and enrichment represents a welfare transformation over individual cages. EU regulations have lagged in establishing minimum rabbit welfare standards, leaving production largely unregulated. Consumer demand for higher-welfare rabbit meat, combined with retailer commitments to improved housing standards, is driving incremental improvement in major producing countries.