Wild black rabbit

[Gibbsy]

I meant to ask this a while ago but forgot.

I saw a black rabbit while driving through the forest on the way home a while ago and was wondering if you get black rabbits in the wild or if this was one that someone had released as all the other ones i see are the normal grey colour.

I have also seen at least fifty or so deer this past couple of weeks since the clocks have changed back including a stag this week that refused to run across the road like the usual ones and just strode across with his chest poked out.

[BorderReiver]

A few black bunnies round here too.Must be feral.

My local woods seem to be crawling with muntjac.Anyone know if they're good eating?

[fred gordon]

I meant to ask this a while ago but forgot.

I saw a black rabbit while driving through the forest on the way home a while ago and was wondering if you get black rabbits in the wild or if this was one that someone had released as all the other ones i see are the normal grey colour.

I have also seen at least fifty or so deer this past couple of weeks since the clocks have changed back including a stag this week that refused to run across the road like the usual ones and just strode across with his chest poked out.

I see quite a few black rabbits on my way to work and they seem to be in specific colonys. My understanding is that they are melanic (black) strains of the common rabbit. In other words it's a genetic thing. Something along the lines of black sheep. Hope this helps.

[JonnyP]

There is a roundabout where the A23 meets the A27, just north of brighton. Quite a few black bunnies live on there......

[British Red]

Could be either, there used to be some lop eared long haired wild rabbits where I lived in Cheshire - clearly the natives ahd interbred at some point. They got on fine though...

[BorderReiver]

There is a roundabout where the A23 meets the A27, just north of brighton. Quite a few black bunnies live on there......

Most of the BBs I've seen have been round a roundabout on the A149.

Maybe a new strain of roundabout rabbits.

[spamel]

Wasn't the Black Rabbit the dodgy one in watership down? That was on the other night..got a bit teary eyed!!

[JonnyP]

There is a black rabbit in arundel.....Very nice it is.....

[janiepopps]

There is a black rabbit in arundel.....Very nice it is.....

Ooh, I've been there!!! Good food

j

[stonyman]

From what a friend of mine told me, when the ministry released mixy into the rabbit colonies, they released black rabbits infected with the disease so they could keep track of where they had started this so called programme of vermin control. My friend used to work for MAFF (or DEFRA as it is now called)

[TallMikeM]

there used to be loads of black ones round here but I ain't seen any for a couple of years now. I can't of shot them all surely

[BorderReiver]

Ooh, I've been there!!! Good food

j

Good beer too.

[Hunter_zero]

From what a friend of mine told me, when the ministry released mixy into the rabbit colonies, they released black rabbits infected with the disease so they could keep track of where they had started this so called programme of vermin control. My friend used to work for MAFF (or DEFRA as it is now called)

The origins of the black rabbit are some what misty but Warreners used to use black rabbits to monitor numbers. Thus is it likely the black rabbits are genetic throw backs from the times of the warreners. They could have also originated from the Norman fur farms, rabbit meat and fur was a very expensive commodity. Again, genetic throw backs.
I have shot a good few black rabbits, they seem to be of a different breed. Much courser fur, much stronger animal. Claws are again different from that of a 'normal' almost feeble wild rabbit in the tradition sense.

Its worth noting that no MAFF or DEFRA rep has or ever will release diseased rabbits. It is VERY illegal.

John

[Tadpole]

Most of the BBs I've seen have been round a roundabout on the A149.

Maybe a new strain of roundabout rabbits.

I have seen several warrens of black bunnies, some have lop ears and some have ‘normal’ ears. I just took it as read that someone had released a unwanted pet and it had bred with the wild ones.

On two of roundabouts on my way to work (Yate nr Bristol) have burgeoning populations of mixed breed rabbits, some tan with lop ears, and some black with normal ears.

[Exbomz]

And I thought it was just me seeing them . There are several in an area on the S Downs near here that I assumed were either escapees or just released/unwanted pet/feral ones.

[Gibbsy]

I actually saw the rabbit on two different occasions and was glad to see it the second time when i was with my girlfriend just for confirmation that i wasn't seeing things.
Thanks for the replies i am glad i asked.

[Culicoidis]

A friend of mine has a farm on the Isle of Wight, when they cull rabbits they try to leave the black ones as they are easier to see. Theory being that eventually most of the rabbits will be black and much easier to shoot.

[Feral]

Down here I have see black rabbits and orange ones as well, Until recently you were not allowed to even keep rabbits at all. All of the rabbit varieties you see today(except for the angora) have been genetic mutations of the European rabbit, black is the main mutation that appears.

[Moonraker]

They have been around for a while and even enter into folk superstition;

WHITE RABBITS ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH - "In some parts of Lancashire and the adjacent counties, it is unwise to shoot a black rabbit. This is because they were once believed to be ancestral spirits returning in that form. In Somerset, white rabbits are said to be witches. That anyone really believes this now is improbable; nevertheless, white rabbits are not popular as children's pets, and they are usually left severely alone, and are not shot. A luck-bringing custom found all over Great Britain is to say 'Rabbits' or 'White Rabbits' once or three times on the first day of the month. It must be said early in the morning, before any other word has been uttered, otherwise the charm loses its force. In some districts it is considered necessary to say 'Hares' or 'Black Rabbits' when going to bed on the night before, as well as 'Rabbits' or White Rabbits' in the morning. If, however, the speaker becomes muddled and says 'Black Rabbits' on rising, bad luck will follow. The looked-for result of all this is variously given as general good luck during the ensuing four weeks, or the receipt of a gift wit hin a few days." From the "Encyclopedia of Superstitions" by E. and M.A. Radford, edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. First published in 1948.

source: Rabbity customs

[Enok]

Ive seen loads round here 'on my rounds'
ive even shot and caught a few. They taste normal anyway

[stonyman]

The origins of the black rabbit are some what misty but Warreners used to use black rabbits to monitor numbers. Thus is it likely the black rabbits are genetic throw backs from the times of the warreners. They could have also originated from the Norman fur farms, rabbit meat and fur was a very expensive commodity. Again, genetic throw backs.
I have shot a good few black rabbits, they seem to be of a different breed. Much courser fur, much stronger animal. Claws are again different from that of a 'normal' almost feeble wild rabbit in the tradition sense.

Its worth noting that no MAFF or DEFRA rep has or ever will release diseased rabbits. It is VERY illegal.

John

No MAFF or DEFRA rep would actually admit to releasing diseased rabbits, as it is illegal, but that doesn't mean it didn't go on.

Or am I being paranoid?