LONDON — Have you seen Darius, the world’s longest rabbit?
Four ft lengthy and weighing 50 kilos, the heavyweight bunny must be straightforward to identify. But he went lacking this previous weekend, and now the police are concerned, interesting for details about his obvious abduction from his residence in a small English village.
Darius’s proprietor, Annette Edwards, has provided a reward of two,000 kilos, about $2,745, for his protected return, no questions requested. She detailed his disappearance on Sunday from her residence in Stoulton, England, in a post on Twitter, calling it a “very sad day.” She added that the rabbit was too outdated to breed now, “So please bring him back.”
A former mannequin turned rabbit breeder who has held 4 world-record titles for the scale of her animals, Ms. Edwards has beforehand bought Darius’s offspring for as a lot as £250 every.
“It’s just so upsetting because he is such a lovable character,” she told the British newspaper The Telegraph, including that Darius, who is basically retired from public appearances, was on a particular food regimen for his age and would die with out it.
Ms. Edwards didn’t instantly reply on Tuesday to a request for remark. But the police accountable for the world have, ahem, hopped on the case, appealing for those with information concerning the theft to come back ahead. The police say that they imagine the rabbit was stolen from an enclosure in Ms. Edwards’s backyard on Saturday.
Darius was topped the world’s longest rabbit by the Guinness World Records in 2010. In a 2019 interview with the Canadian broadcaster CBC, Ms. Edwards described Darius, a sort of home rabbit often called a Continental Giant that was traditionally bred for its meat and fur, as “an old man” who “can be a bit grumpy.” Still, she added, “he hasn’t lost his sparkle.”
Darius drew consideration on-line and traveled throughout the nation for occasions alongside Ms. Edwards, who typically appeared with him dressed because the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit. Darius was insured for $1.6 million and traveled with a bodyguard, in accordance with NBC’s Today show in a 2010 article.
But his reign because the world’s longest rabbit was already beneath menace from his personal offspring, a few of whom additionally measure over 4 ft lengthy.
“They’re very special, they’re different,” Ms. Edwards said of her pets in the CBC interview. “They’re a lovely creature, very gentle,” she added, describing them as “more like dogs than rabbits.”
