Rabbits are the fourth most used laboratory species globally, with housing and procedural welfare standards that significantly affect their wellbeing during and after experiments.
Laboratory rabbit welfare receives less public attention than laboratory mouse or rat welfare despite significant welfare concerns. Rabbits are highly social and active animals poorly adapted to isolated, barren caging. Their prey animal nature means they mask pain and distress, creating the risk that welfare problems are systematically underdetected. The persistence of rabbit use in irritation testing, despite validated alternative methods, represents a welfare concern that regulatory pressure and consumer avoidance of companies using such tests can address. Improved social housing, enrichment provision, and better pain assessment tools for rabbits would substantially improve welfare for millions of animals annually.