This Beatrix Potter watercolor recently sold for a £289,250, a record for a book illustration.  The Rabbit’s Christmas Party was painted by Potter in the 1890s and was sold to a private collector.

Additional Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7513296.stm

Well, even though rabbits are the third most popular pet, and there’s certainly a strong rabbit owner community that has developed, I guess the world isn’t ready for bunnies on buses.

I came across this entertaining article from the UK’s The Independent which describes the author’s experience while riding the bus.

“I was sitting on a bus yesterday when a woman came down the stairs clutching a rabbit on a lead. The woman was delicate-looking and rather beautiful, and on the spectrum of eccentricities, I’d say she was in the zone of colourful characters rather than rum coves. Nevertheless, the rabbit was wearing a pink lead and a pink bow in its fur, and as she staggered down the steps with it, all the other passengers sized her up, decided she was probably a dangerous oddball, and did what British people do in such a scenario – they pretended she wasn’t there. I watched with interest because, apart from the fact that the rabbit wasn’t a dog, there was nothing odd in her behaviour at all. I found myself admiring the self-confidence of someone who was prepared to be branded “weird” and damn well wasn’t going to apologise for it.”

I can’t say I would ever bring Coco or Cosette on a bus with me just on a leash. I think I’d spend the whole time trying frantically to keep Cosette from bolting out of my arms and attempting to wriggle free of the harness. And she’d probably pee on my seat out of spite. (She’s used that tactic before.)

Melanie Lapich, from New South Wales, Australia, recently lost her two pet bunnies to Myxomatosis. When the vet had initially diagnosed the rabbits, Melanie did her best to treat their symptoms. But soon, the lumps on the skin, swollen, oozing eyelids, labored breathing, and lack of appetite became too severe, and the rabbits had to be put to sleep.

So Melanie is on a quest to legalize the vaccine for Myxomatosis in Australia. Currently, the vaccine is in use in the UK. (See My House Rabbit Myxomatosis vaccination article here.) Since Australia has a major ecological issue with wild European rabbits destroying native plantlife and crowding out native wildlife, the Australian government has so far refused to legalize the vaccine for domestic rabbits in fear that resistance to the disease may eventually spread to wild rabbit populations.

But for pet owners like Melanie, it means there is little hope for prevention of this incurable disease for their pets. If you would like to sign the petition to legalize the vaccine, go here: www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/make-myxomatosis-vaccine-legal.html

For more information: www.myxomatosis-vaccine.com

In Gujaret, central India, fossil hunters have unearthed small ankle bones from a 53 million-year-old lagomorph. Lagomorpha is an order comprising of rabbits, hares and pikas.

This study is significant because it shows that lagomorphs had already begun to diversify during the Eocene Epoch. This diversity in mammals has been attributed by scientists to the global warming that had occurred 2 million years earlier.

For more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7253518.stm 

Check out this San Francisco home featuring a rabbit-themed decorative trim. Note the rabbit resting at the end.

Social networking has extended to pet rabbits. BunSpace.com is a community for rabbit lovers which allows users to create profiles for their pet bunnies.

Obviously I added Coco and Cosette.

28-pound French lop Humphrey has broken the official world record for biggest bunny. The 42-inch long rabbit loves eating (of course), lying by the fire, and watching British soap operas.

According to owner Colin Dunigan, from Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire (Scotland), “It doesn’t matter where he is in the house, when he hears the theme of EastEnders he runs to get to the television. And if I try to leave the house without leaving the telly or the radio on he will stop me before I go.”

For more information: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=514728&in_page_id=1770