Colony housing systems for farmed rabbits provide significantly better welfare than individual battery cages by enabling social behavior and natural movement.
Colony housing for farmed rabbits represents one of the most significant available welfare improvements for a species that suffers enormously in individual battery cages. Rabbits are active, social animals that run, leap, and engage in complex social interactions when given space. Colony systems that allow these behaviors show dramatic reductions in welfare-compromised behaviors compared to cage systems. The welfare improvement requires more complex management but producer experience across Europe demonstrates that it is commercially viable at scale.