The countries where rabbit meat consumption is highest are

Leporids such as European rabbits and hares are a food meat in Europe, China, South America, North America, some parts of the Middle East. By some estimates, the world's annual rabbit meat production stands at around 200 million tons.[29]

Rabbit is sold in UK butchers and markets, and some supermarkets sell frozen rabbit meat. Additionally, some have begun selling fresh rabbit meat alongside other types of game. At farmers markets and the famous Borough Market in London, rabbits will be displayed dead and hanging unbutchered in the traditional style next to braces of pheasant and other small game.

The countries where rabbit meat consumption is highest are
Malta (8.89 kg per inhabitant),
Italy (5.71 kg per inhabitant),
Cyprus (4.37 kg per inhabitant),
France (2.76 kg per inhabitant),
Belgium (2.73 kg per inhabitant),
Spain (2.61 kg per inhabitant) and
Portugal (1.94 kg per inhabitant).[30]

One of the most common types of rabbit to be bred for meat is New Zealand white rabbit. The largest rabbit meat producing countries (100,000 tons or more per year) are China, Russia, Italy, France and Spain.[30]

Compared with the meat of other species (especially pork and beef), rabbit meat is richer in proteins and certain vitamins and minerals, while it has less fat; rabbit fat contains less stearic and oleic acids than other species and higher proportions of the essential polyunsaturated linolenic and linoleic fatty acids.[30] The main health issues associated with the use of rabbits for meat are tularemia or rabbit fever which is an infection that may be contracted from close contact with rabbits[35] and the so-called rabbit starvation. Rabbit starvation is most likely due to the deficiency of fat in rabbit meat. In comparison, pemmican is a meat-based food that is nutritionally complete but is composed of dry meat fibers and fat in a 1:1 ratio by weight. Rabbit starvation is similar to other metabolic issues that arise in times of extreme starvation. An analogous condition (though with different symptoms) occurs when carbohydrates are ingested in the absence of fat and protein.[36] These conditions are not well-documented by Western medicine because such total absence of fat and protein are relatively rare and not likely to occur where medical attention is available. However, a slim variety of historical writings refer to rabbit starvation, for example, Vilhjalmur Stefansson in the late 19th century, and in the journals of Charles Darwin.


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Rabbit diseases

For a more comprehensive list, see Category:Rabbit diseases.
Rabbits can be affected by a number of diseases. These include pathogens that also affect other animals and/or humans, such as Bordetella bronchiseptica and Escherichia coli, as well as diseases unique to rabbits such as rabbit haemorrhagic disease: a form of calicivirus,[24] and myxomatosis.

Rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.[25]

Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms such as Taenia serialis, external parasites like fleas and mites, coccidia species, and Toxoplasma gondii.[26][27]

Domesticated rabbits are prone to gastrointestinal stasis due to lack of access to high fiber foods like hay and grass.