Rabbit Problem

[Bird]

Did you guys release the Mixamatosis and Calesey (sp , sp) virus's as we did to get rid of rabbits ? Ours are unedible now . It has also caused an unforseen problem , the Eagle population grew with the abundance of the rabbit . Now with the decline the Eagles have taken to eating dead Kangaroo on the roadsides and are being knocked by cars .

I never heard of that virus and don't know of any reason to not eat rabbits in this country.

 

[Eagleview]

Sorry i did spell it wrong , heres a link . If you saw an infected rabbit you would'nt eat it . Myxomatosis in Rabbits

 

[Bird]

That's something new to me, although it's obviously not a new virus by any means. I've never understood why rabbit is not a more popular food for humans. That article talks about the virus being introduced for the purpose of reducing the rabbit population, when it seems to me that more people eating rabbits would have served the purpose. I've read of jack rabbit roundups in the USA where the rabbits were slaughtered just to get rid of them, and I've known people who would eat cottontail rabbits, but not jack rabbits. Maybe we were different, but until we moved to town when I was a teenager, Dad & I killed every rabbiit (and squirrel) we could find and ate them; cottontails, jack rabbits, and swamp rabbits. I had never eaten a domestic rabbit until the late 90s when we lived on the 10 acres about 60 miles south of Dallas, and I started raising New Zealand White rabbits, both to sell and to eat, and I wish our supermarkets had rabbits in the meat department.

 

[MossRoad]

Bird,
When I was young a fast food restaurant opened up in South Bend called Hop-Scotch (I think) that served rabbit. Mom wouldn't let us go there and it closed within a year. I've never had rabbit. My mom told me she would never serve me rabbit because she ate so many during the depression that the thought of it made her sick to her stomach. Her dad raised rabbits and turnips. We never ate turnips, either.

I'd like to try it, but it is pretty expensive at the market. I may do it anyway, just to try it.

Anyway, I just did an internet search for HopScotch and found it was a scam setup and why it closed so fast! Check this out....

October, 1983

The Indiana Secretary of State's office stepped in to stop what appeared to be a rabbit-ranching scam. The situation surfaced early in the year when Richard Stewart opened the first Hop-Scotch Restaurant, a fast-food eatery specializing in fried rabbit, in West Lafayette's Chauncey Hill Mall. Stewart and his wife, Barbara, hoped to sell rabbit ranches under Rex Rabbit Development Company, then buy the rabbits produced, sell pelts to furriers and meat to retailers and restaurants. More than 150 ranchers bought two bucks and 20 does for about $6,000 to get started, having been guaranteed a market for rabbits that did not exist. The Hop-Scotch closed in October and the Stewarts filed for bankruptcy.

 

[MossRoad]

I searched a little more on that guy... check out this link to a People Magazine article about him.

What's Up, Doc? a Real-Life Elmer Fudd Tries to Turn Rabbits into Riches : People.com

 

[Eagleview]

Theres a few reasons that rabbit meat does not do well in OZ . One being the cute Easter Bunny thing and the kids . The Gov. is trying to bring in the idea of the Easter Bilby which is an Australian marsupial for that reason , so that the kids are not devestated by a rabbit cull or by mum serving it up for tea . The others being the thought of the Mixo infected rabbits possibly ending up on the shelves . And the fact that some non Australian Australians were serving up cat instead of rabbit (try telling the difference when they are skinned) One guy with a resturant got busted at Glen Innes NSW with a bag full of cat skins when police were tipped off . People are more accepting now with many resturants serving Crocadile , Kangaroo , Buffalo , Emu etc but not rabbit , maybe one day .

 

[Ken_CT]

Thanks for all the advice. I bought a bag of blood meal and spread it around a couple of the flowerbeds. I hope it helps, if so I'll buy a few more bags as it needs to be reapplied after it rains. I noticed that Miracle Gro says it is not made with cow blood. I don't know if it matters, as my dog wanted to eat the stuff. My back yard is fenced in and our dog chases but can never catch a rabbit. He's a 9 year old medium (50+ lb.) mix who can run fairly fast but can't turn like a rabbit. It's good exercise for him and comical to watch. He's a little short in the brains department and I think the rabbits are teasing him. In the past I have had Irish Wolfhounds, they would have been great for this, but sadly they are gone, and I don't want to get another til this one is gone. The front isn't fenced and I won't let a dog out without being fenced. Catching a rabbit isn't worth a lawsuit, or getting my little buddy killed. Another suggestion was shooting them. I have a nice pellet gun with pretty good glass that I could use but only if facing the wooded area, and even then this area is a bit too residential.
I was told today there is another fertilizer that is supposed to work very well as a rabbit repellant. It is called milorganite (sp). Supposedly it is made with human waste, so I definitely won't use it on the vegetables, but I'm going to pick up a bag hopefully tomorrow. I'll post with the results of that.



Thanks again,
Ken

 

[Eagleview]

It would be fine on the vegetables , the Chinese and others have been using it (untreated) on our food for centuries . My wife used blood and bone on her garden for a while but it brought around the Dingoes and wild dogs .

 

[Bird]

I've never had rabbit. My mom told me she would never serve me rabbit because she ate so many during the depression that the thought of it made her sick to her stomach.

She wasn't the only one. My maternal grandmother wouldn't eat rabbit either. She said when they were first married, they didn't have much money and my granddad killed jack rabbits and she made them into canned sausage. She said she ate so much jack rabbit sausage those first years that she never wanted anymore rabbit.

I have never seen rabbit in a grocery store in this part of the country, but I'll never forget the winter (1971-72) that we spent in Des Plaines, IL, when I was going to Northwestern University. One day in the supermarket's frozen food section I noticed a package that was "one whole rabbit, cut up". Three pounds, imported from Poland. I could not imagine why a rabbit would be imported when we have so many in this country. But I bought that, my wife fried it, I took two bites, and threw it all in the garbage. It looked good, it was tender, and it tasted like it had been fried in last year's left over fish frying oil. Terrible taste. I don't know whether it had thawed and spoiled on the way over or what, but that was the only rabbit I ever tasted that I didn't like. Rabbit is good fried, barbecued, grilled, in stew, dumplings, boned and ground up to make sandwiches. In fact, rabbit can be cooked anyway you would cook a chicken and will be as good or better.

But I found there was no profit to be made raising rabbits in my area. In the month leading up to Easter, I could sell everything I had, but the rest of the year . . . ., all my family liked rabbit to eat, and some friends from France and Germany wanted to buy a few to eat. But that was about all.

 

[riptides]

It always amazes ME at the things Americans and Westerners don't eat.

A variety of insects comes to mind - what does a bug eat if not for your best crop?

Small game - Rabbits, oPossum, groundhogs/chuck/gopher and squirrel....

Fowls - Ducks, goose, pheasant, game hens.....

dometics - Lamb, goat, horse, camel. Well, more lamb.

Yeh, I tried them all, and then some that aren't listed. I must say it is all in the marketing and presentation. Availability too....hah...