Bog Myrtle & Peat

Over the past two decades, I must have shot several thousand rabbits. In recent weeks, ferreting has upped that toll even more, and I like to think that I have now handled enough dead bunnies to know when there is something wrong with one. Aside from the inevitable black, white and creamy varients on the usual rabbit colouring, mutations and major abnormalities are extremely rare. Lamping last summer, I saw a rabbit shot which had no ears at all and appeared never to have had any. There was no scarring, and the neat little stubs were quite neatly velveted all over with short silky hair. Large dewlaps also pop up here and there, but since these are probably related to age and breeding, they don’t really count as genetic deformities.

Ferreting today, I came across an extreme deformity in a rabbit which darted away from the ferrets as if it was perfectly healthy. It was only once I had despatched it that I realised that it only had three legs, the front left leg being totally absent. Parts of the limb were present inside the body, but there was no sign of any damage to the fur or skin to indicate that the absence was as a result of an injury. The “arm” bones were present to the “elbow”, but the bone at the elbow joint was greatly enlarged and contorted. I was fairly certain that the absence had been there since birth, and given that he was in great condition with alot of fat along his saddle and around his internal organs, it was very impressive to see a three legged rabbit can cope just as well as his four legged fellows.