Finally got my first black rabbit

[Guss33 375]

Went out yesterday and done a some warrans on a golf course got plenty of rabbits but lost quite a few as we were unable to take the whippets with us but still done well. But I got my first black rabbit and it put up a good fight. Some of my friends say I am racissist but it was bolted by a black ferret I call it fair. 

[Aussie Whip 3,827]

You don't see many different colored rabbits these days in NSW but bolted two black ones from a warren a while back. The dogs were extra determined to catch them and killed both which they rarely do unless it's a hard catch for them. Black lives don't matter in whippet world, lol.

[Ferretman65 2,123]

Got one couple of weeks ago and one in the snare in the summer there 

[Guss33 375]

Ferret man well done it makes your day is different when you catch a rabbit a different colour I found it great. Years ago when I was a kid at one spot I went with my farther we got quite a good number of rabbits with a whit strip on them. We brought home one tin a small kit with some white markings on it and tried to make it a family pet but it never worked out. 

[Aussie Whip 3,827]

I used to think weird colored rabbits were the result of inbreeding but have mainly seen them in areas with high numbers. Maybe it is close breeding and because there are so many rabbits the predators don't target the stand out colors as much. Seeing how my dogs react to them I'm sure foxes, eagles and others would be attracted more to the odd colored one.

[Guss33 375]

Could the different colours be caused by people who have released coloured pet rabbits into the wild as they have no more time for them or rabbits that have escaped. 

[Aussie Whip 3,827]

59 minutes ago, Guss33 said:

Could the different colours be caused by people who have released coloured pet rabbits into the wild as they have no more time for them or rabbits that have escaped. 

They could be but more likely mutations if they are in remote spots. I didn't think pet rabbits would live long in the wild but locals let some go in the common where i used to live and you'd often see colored and even a pure white rabbit a couple of years later. Don't know if they were the released ones or crossed with wild rabbits. There was a lot of cover for them with blackberries but also a good fox population.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Aussie Whip

[Aussie Whip 3,827]

Back in the early 80's me and a mate used to get a couple of hundred for a weekend, we got $5 each for them so we earned 5 times our weekly wage as apprentices. We used to keep them alive in crates and they'd huddle in the corners. One time we caught this rabbit and it would come up to you in the cage, we felt sorry for it so we let it out and it hung around camp for two days till we left. It was on a remote property so no chance of it being a dumped pet. I just think it was really smart because it got to go back to it's warren.

[Neal 1,787]

I regularly used to see a single black rabbit in one particular location on Browndown when I lived in Gosport. When I mentioned it to somebody, they said they'd seen one in the same area for years. I went back once many years later and saw another. Maybe it was a ghost!