Rabbit fur production — both for fashion and for angora fiber — involves welfare failures that have driven major retailer withdrawals and consumer rejection in many markets.
Rabbit fur welfare failures are systemic and well-documented: isolation in wire cages prevents all natural rabbit behaviors; live-plucking of angora fiber causes acute distress; and the scale of production ensures that welfare monitoring is impossible. Investigation footage of live-plucked angora production caused rapid retailer withdrawal from the category in 2013. Consumer rejection and brand policy changes have reduced but not eliminated rabbit fur demand. Synthetic alternatives function identically at lower welfare cost.