NEWS AND COMMENT: Darius, aged 11, is a Continental Giant rabbit and the current Guinness World Record holder as the world’s biggest bunny with a length of 4 feet and 3 inches and a weight of 35 pounds. He’s been stolen from his enclosure in the garden of the property of his owners overnight on Saturday last. He lives in Stoulton, Worcestershire, UK.
Anette Edwards is his owner. She is offering a £1000 reward for information leading to his return. She said that he is very fit for his age but is on a special diet. Without the diet he will die. She said that she doesn’t mind how he is returned but she just wants her bunny back.
She said that he is “such a lovable character”. She’s obviously devastated. Comment: would I be the only person who surprised that he was in an outside enclosure in the garden? Perhaps he wasn’t but it appears to me that he was accessible to a thief with a bit of determination. Being the world record holder one might have expected a little more protection. But this is not a time to be critical.
His offspring have sold for as much as £250. His son might outgrow him. Ms Edwards has owned more than 100 rabbits. The West Murcia Police are investigating and are appealing for information.
In times past there have been other giant rabbits. There are 10 breeds of giant rabbit. In 2009 the Spanish government started a program to bring back the giant Valenciano rabbit (see above). This breed was a popular source of meat in Spain and in Cuba and Argentina but disappeared in 1970s.
In 2014 the world’s largest rabbit was Ralph a 55-pound Continental Giant. This is remarkable because Ralph was 20 pounds larger than Darius.
For over 5 million years the Minorcan King of Rabbits lived on the Spanish island of Menorca. They weighed about six times the average at 30 pounds. In 2014 one of the largest varieties of Rabbits was the Flemish Giant. They were originally raised as a source of meat and appear to have been imported into England in the 1860s.
