Farmed rabbits are kept in worse conditions than almost any other farm species in Europe, but EU regulatory reform is advancing following decades of documented welfare failures in conventional cage systems.
Farmed rabbit welfare represents one of the most severe and widespread welfare failures in European animal agriculture. The mismatch between conventional wire-cage conditions and the welfare needs of a species that evolved to run, burrow, socialise, and forage is extreme. Rabbits in standard cages cannot perform any of their natural locomotor behaviours, have no suitable resting substrate, often lack social contact, and experience high rates of painful hock disease from wire flooring. Despite decades of scientific documentation of these problems, regulatory reform has been slow due to industry economic concerns. Consumer campaigns and retailer commitments to improved standards are driving faster change in some markets than legislation.