Rabbits are the third most farmed animal in Europe yet receive far less welfare protection than chickens or pigs, with most raised in barren wire battery cages that prevent natural behaviors.
Farmed rabbits represent one of the most neglected welfare challenges in European agriculture. Wire battery cages prevent locomotion, prevent natural substrate use, cause pododermatitis from wire floors, and deny social and play behaviors. Rabbits are prey animals with high baseline fear responses that are amplified by barren, stressful environments. Enriched group housing systems show improved welfare indicators including reduced stereotypies and injury. Welfare awareness has been slow to catch up to the scale of rabbit farming.