Rabbits are one of the least welfare-protected farm animals globally. European efforts to improve rabbit farming standards highlight both the challenges and opportunities for progress.
Rabbits may be the most poorly protected major farm animal species in Europe. Despite being mammals with complex social needs, cognitive abilities, and clear capacity for suffering, they are excluded from the EU Directive on minimum standards for farm animals. The conventional cage system - bare wire floors, individual housing, no enrichment - violates almost every behavioral need of these naturally social, active animals. Foot lesions from wire floors affect the majority of conventionally housed rabbits. The gap between what rabbits need and what they receive in standard farming practice is one of the largest in all of animal agriculture, representing an urgent welfare priority.