Black rabbit

[Tyssandi]

Not a pet, but just gone up the fields and a black rabbit was munching away in the resting fields. I thought I was seeing things so gradually walked closer and it was def black. A ride we go on near here has black rabbits but have not seen them in a few years due to lame horse and no hacking. Anyone else have black wild rabbits??

 

[neddy man]

we have some wild ones near us in South Yorkshire, always known them as priest rabbits.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I know of pet one who did remarkably well in the wild judging by his offspring.
I always imagine he swaggered into the nearest warren saying 'Heyyyy ladies....' and they all started swooning over the exotic out of towner....

 

[millikins]

I went on a birdwatching holiday as a child to Skokholm, off Pembrokeshire coast, most of the rabbits there are black. Not black, but couple of years ago saw an albino rabbit while hacking. It was there a few days later then didn't see it again, not a very effective colour

 

[cronkmooar]

I had one here for years and then it disappeared about 8 yrs ago.

This spring I seen one in the field and a few weeks later I have two babies knocking about too. They are lovely to see aren't they

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Snowy Celandine is talking about dumped bunnies in Clubhouse. Pearlsasinger says there are black ones wild near her and a yard near me is positively covered! It's ruined the fields.

 

[webble]

Yes my old yard had them as does my new yard and they are 4 miles and a main road apart

 

[swilliam]

Had them on a field we rented a few years ago - from a pet that escaped we were always told. I'm in South Yorks as someone above is - perhaps it was the same rabbit!

 

[FfionWinnie]

Seen a few black and also white wild rabbits. It's a colour mutation not necessarily from an escaped pet. We did once have a pet lop someone had "released" on the farm. He came up for breakfast every day. One day he didn't appear and when we found him, he had mixy. Tried everything and had him at the vets several times but he died. My boss, a hardened miner, was devastated, he had been a real character.

 

[Equi]

Black rabbits everywhere in co. Down. We even have a hare at my yard.

 

[rhylis]

When I first moved in with my OH I hadn't been here long when I spotted a black rabbit in the hedge in one of our fields. Thinking it was an escaped pet I spent over an hour in the rain trying to catch it before it reached the road. Everyone laughed at me when they found out because apparently they are common round here and originate from an escaped pet. I felt a bit daft!
Round here recently we also seem to have another unusually coloured strain of wild rabbits. They are a bright cinnamon type colour and look very visible in the fields compared to the duller browny grey coloured rabbits.

 

[keri66]

We have loads by my home
By the yard we had an escapee white bunny who sired a lot of little while bunnies for a few years .
Sadly they have gradually died out

 

[Beausmate]

I used to see several black rabbits in a field just outside West Coker. There was a black and white rabbit that I used to see in various gardens of a housing estate I drove through, it was a 'latch key' rabbit that used to go out all day then return to its owners in the evening.

 

[tabithakat64]

we used to have wild black rabbits at my old yard

 

[Paint Me Proud]

Black wild rabbits are completely natural, they are melanistic, which is an over development of melanin in the skin an coat which leads to a dark colour. It is the opposite of albinism which reduces the melanin and creates a white furred pink eyed albino rabbit.
It's a natural mutation that occurs in rabbits but is relatively rare so not seen very often.
At least once I year I get people asking me to go and rescue a pet bunny they've seen in the park then proceed to describe either a melanistic or albino wild rabbit

 

[rowan666]

Yes we have had them for as long as I can remember, offspring from a neighbours escapee

 

[Dave's Mam]

I saw a honey coloured one running accross my field the other day.

 

[applecart14]

Yes they have some at a large equestrian centre where my partner works in the Midlands. Strangely they are seen to be immune to the myxomatosis that has claimed so many other wild rabbits in the area. We thought they may have been escaped pets who have bred with the wild rabbits but we have no evidence that points to this being the case.

 

[Merrymoles]

We had one at the yard all last year - definitely wild as we watched it grow up with the other baby bunnies. Flipping annoying while poo picking as we always thought it was poo until we got close and it beggared off!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I can't be the only person whose first thought wasn't about Fluffy bunnies when they read the title...

 

[turnbuckle]

I know of pet one who did remarkably well in the wild judging by his offspring.
I always imagine he swaggered into the nearest warren saying 'Heyyyy ladies....' and they all started swooning over the exotic out of towner....

What do they say....once you've had black, you never look back?

Fair few of them here....always nice to see them.

 

[Sallyfinn]

I several bright apricot ones in my paddocks

 

[Gift Horse]

I can't be the only person whose first thought wasn't about Fluffy bunnies when they read the title...

LoL, no you aren't. we had a lot of rabbits here when we moved in, including black ones. The Myxy got them :-(
If they appear immune to Myxomatosis I would guess they are probably vaccinated escaped pets.

 

[suffolkmare]

Haven't read back all the posts, but when I lived in West London I used to hack on Chorleywood common and there was quite a population of black rabbits that supposedly resulted from an escaped pet, but could have been melanistic wild ones.

 

[9tails]

I can't be the only person whose first thought wasn't about Fluffy bunnies when they read the title...

This is the ONLY reason I opened this thread.

 

[turnbuckle]

And I thought it was me who had lowered the tone......

 

[Clodagh]

Seen a few black and also white wild rabbits. It's a colour mutation not necessarily from an escaped pet. We did once have a pet lop someone had "released" on the farm. He came up for breakfast every day. One day he didn't appear and when we found him, he had mixy. Tried everything and had him at the vets several times but he died. My boss, a hardened miner, was devastated, he had been a real character.

That is really sad. It is a horrible disease in a wild rabbit, let alone to see it in a pet.