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reeboksusie
07-May-06, 10:59
Yesterday I spotted a baby white rabbit in our garden, we are visited by the brown ones all the time and most have taken up residence, but I have never seen a white one before. Tried to get a closer look but obviously he made a dash for it as we got closer. Today, the little bunny is back in the same place and seems to be on his own. Feel a little concerned about him, and, was wondering if he is someones pet or one born to the wild?
Susie

Naefearjustbeer
07-May-06, 11:32
I remember a few years ago when I lived at my mums there used to be a lot of black rabbits running wild. Turned out that a black female pet rabbit used to escape from its run or hutch quite regularily and then return home after it had its babies. It was quite funny to watch them in the wild because rabbits either freeze or run when scared. You could see this motionless black bunny thinking it was camoflauged like its true wild cousins. I dare say it made them easyer pickings for predators when they did that. There are not so many on the go any more as the parent bunny is long since passed away and. I dont know if the black bunnies were so succesful in the wild. Those that did not get killed and eaten probally didnt get to breed with other black bunnies and the colouring would slowly disapear

Naefearjustbeer
07-May-06, 11:35
Oh and I wouldny be concerned about it the baby rabbits around my house are quite small and are running about fine. I dont think our cat has gone near them this year yet! The murdering evil creature that she is.

connieb19
07-May-06, 11:35
Sometimes it's surprising how cruel people can be and they just dump their pet rabbits in the wild once they get sick of them..:mad:

Naefearjustbeer
07-May-06, 12:00
By the time it is a baby rabbit I would think it was born in the wild. If it was a dumped pet you would probally be able to get quite near it before it tried to run away. If you really are concerned about it put a few carrots out for it to nibble on

JAWS
07-May-06, 17:46
I've noticed there seem to be quite a few rather colourful rabbits on the A99 south of Thrumster. I've not seen any white ones but there's certainly quite a variety of others.
They might not be camouflaged but they are certainly surviving and good luck to them.

Seabird
07-May-06, 18:09
The rabbit gene pool is now very varied.
Black rabbits I heard were the rabbits that were introduced to spread the mixamotosis Virus and then there are the various excapees.
Once a colour gene is introduced it can crop up in any litter.
Here in the fields at Lybster we have brown and white, pure black, and wild rabbit greyish brown.
They have certainly changed since they were introduced by the Normans as a food source after the battle of Hastings.
I think my history of the rabbit is correct without looking it up.

fred
07-May-06, 18:51
They have certainly changed since they were introduced by the Normans as a food source after the battle of Hastings.
I think my history of the rabbit is correct without looking it up.

Might be.

A lot of historians do believe it was the Romans who introduced us to the rabbit though and they did find the remains of a rabbit 2000 years old in Norfolk last year.

dirdyweeker
08-May-06, 11:55
Saw a black rabbit yesterday out at Broadhaven where all the ducks and birds are. Presume it is wild too.

George Brims
08-May-06, 18:21
I've seen black rabbits at various places in Caithness. Some areas around Watten also used to have black weasels, or more correctly, weasel-ferret hybrids. My dad had ferrets, which gave me a lifelong hatred of the smelly things as I was very wee at the time and the cage was at my eye level. One night a gale blew over their cage and it broke open, letting them out into the wild, where they obviously survived long enough to interbreed with the weasels.