The transition from individual battery cages to colony housing systems represents a major welfare improvement for the 1.5 billion rabbits farmed globally each year.
Rabbits have complex social and locomotor needs that are fundamentally incompatible with individual cage housing. The inability to run, jump, or engage in natural social behaviors causes chronic psychological distress, measurable through cortisol levels, abnormal repetitive behaviors, and learned helplessness indicators. Colony housing, while requiring more careful management to reduce aggression, allows rabbits to express species-typical behavior and shows significantly better welfare outcomes across behavioral, physiological, and health metrics. Consumer pressure and regulatory change are the primary drivers of the ongoing transition.