Rabbits are the third most farmed animal globally but receive very little welfare attention. Battery cage systems for rabbits have welfare impacts comparable to caged hens, yet welfare reform has lagged far behind the poultry industry.
Farmed rabbit welfare represents one of the most significant welfare gaps in European and global animal agriculture. These intelligent, social animals are kept in conditions that deny every natural behavior - burrowing, social interaction, exploration, and exercise. Wire floors cause pododermatitis (sore hock) - a painful condition affecting most battery-caged rabbits. The reproductive pressure on breeding does causes physical depletion and chronic stress. Yet rabbits receive a fraction of the welfare attention given to pigs or poultry, despite comparable suffering at enormous scale. The reforms achieved in the egg industry demonstrate that public pressure and legislative action can transform welfare standards - rabbit welfare advocates are applying these lessons.