Conventional individual cage housing for farmed rabbits severely restricts natural behavior, and group colony housing systems provide significantly improved welfare by allowing locomotion, social interaction, and behavioral expression.
Farmed rabbit welfare in conventional cages represents one of the clearest welfare failures in intensive animal production: individual wire cages prevent virtually every characteristic rabbit behavior. The chronic frustration of locomotion deprivation, combined with the inability to hide, groom normally, or engage in species-typical behaviors, creates sustained psychological suffering. Colony housing systems are not without challenges — managing aggression and disease in groups requires skill — but the welfare gains are substantial. Transition support and expertise sharing are needed to facilitate industry-wide movement toward welfare-positive rabbit housing.