Farmed rabbits are among the most welfare-compromised farm animals, with conventional caged production systems denying fundamental behavioral needs including movement, hopping, and social interaction.
Farmed rabbit welfare sits at the extreme end of farm animal welfare problems. Rabbits are highly active animals that need to run, jump, and perform athletic maneuvers called binkies to express their natural behavioral repertoire. Conventional small wire cages prevent all of this, creating animals in a state of profound behavioral deprivation. The physiological consequences compound the behavioral welfare problems: wire floors cause hock sores, gut stasis from inadequate fiber, and respiratory disease from ammonia accumulation in poorly ventilated systems. Farmed rabbit welfare has received less public attention than pig or chicken welfare despite its severity, partly because rabbit farming is less prominent in English-speaking countries. The welfare case for reform is compelling and the alternatives are achievable.