Stories Rabbits Tell (Continued)

The average length of the European Rabbit's ear is 3 inches.

“Liberated” rabbits do not develop street smarts.

The domestic rabbits’ lifespan has steadily increased, and is now up to 12 years.

In Medieval Europe on May Day, rabbits were burned as incarnations of witches.

In the Middle Ages rabbit rings were exchanged by newly wedded couples to insure fertility.

Vikings thought rabbits as frightening as sea monsters.

“Cuniculus” is the Latin word for rabbit; it means “underground passage”.

Europe and China are the biggest rabbit meat consumers.

A rabbits fur is in its prime at 6 months.

In the 1920’s rabbits were used to test for pregnancy in women by injecting the woman’s urine into the doe to see if she emitted an egg (so all the does had to be killed to get the results).

The 2nd animal to be cloned was a rabbit, in 1992.

Culls are rabbits considered undesirable by show breeders.

Greyhound racing banned using rabbits in 1978.

Animal abuse and human abuse have been linked.

 Worldwide 800 million rabbits are slaughtered annually (8.5 million in USA).

Easter is the busiest time of the year for selling rabbits.

 Rabbits are one of the last pets to be acknowledged as worthy animals.

The authors state as the goal of  Stories Rabbits Tell is to show that rabbits are worth studying and being cared for.  A constant theme of the book is the human cultural contradiction of viewing rabbits as both pet and pest.  Much of the book deals with the darker aspects of how rabbits have been treated, citing examples from the meat, fur and scientific experimentation industries, as well as the use of biological “warfare” by governments against rabbits (and their nightmarish results).

Stories Rabbits Tell will help you appreciate rabbits even more than you already do.  There is not another book like it - yet.  But as the House Rabbit Movement continues to gain momentum, and more and more people become caretakers of companion rabbits, other wonderful books will be written.  We will see rabbit documentaries, rabbit movies, rabbit songs, and rabbit who-knows-what!

Davis and DeMello have done bunny rabbit lovers a great service in writing Stories Rabbits Tell.  Buy this book and encourage other house rabbit owners to do the same.