Support material on group and single housing of rabbits
The rabbit is a naturally social species and must be kept in a group according to Swedish research animal legislation. The Swedish 3Rs Center has created a support material to help laboratory animal facilities house rabbits in groups, as well as to give rabbits as good of a welfare as possible when they need to be housed alone.
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The rabbit is a social species that traditionally has been single housed in small cages when used in research. One of the reasons for single housing of rabbits has been to avoid the aggression that can occur when they are housed together in confined spaces. When rabbits are single housed in a small space, they can experience stress and frustration, which in turn can lead to the development of physiological problems and abnormal behaviours. In order to increase the welfare of rabbits kept for research, the Swedish 3Rs Center has created a support material to help laboratory animal facilities house rabbits in groups. The material also contains information on how to make rabbits feel as good as possible if they still need to be housed alone.
The support material contains information about the natural behaviour of rabbits, basic conditions for good rabbit housing, how rabbits can be introduced to and housed in groups, as well as what is important to consider if rabbits need to be single housed.
The material can be of help to animal technicians, Animal Welfare Bodies and Animal Ethics Committees.