Most commercial rabbit housing fails to meet minimum welfare requirements, with hutches too small for rabbits to exhibit normal locomotive and social behaviors.
Rabbits are among the most commonly kept and most commonly neglected companion animals. Traditional hutch sizes sold in pet stores are dangerously inadequate for animals that in the wild travel several miles daily. Rabbits in cramped housing cannot run, jump, or play, leading to muscular atrophy, behavioral frustration, and poor psychological welfare. The provision of appropriate housing — large connected enclosures with space for running — requires genuine commitment from owners that is not always conveyed at point of purchase.