Rex doe judged champion rabbit

Press, 13 May 1981, Page 10

Rex doe judged champion rabbit

A Black Rex doe with a coat like velvet was judged to be the best rabbit at a show held in conjunction with the first national convention and annual meeting of the New Zealand Domestic Rabbit Council at Lincoln College..

New Zealand-bred from imported English stock, the doe, called Blackett, which was about seven months old and. weighed about 3.9 kg, was from Cross Roads Rabbit Farm at Masterton in, which Messrs W. H. McLean and J. Percy are partners. It was also best Black Rex at the Wellington domestic rabbit show.

Mr McLean has been in the rabbit business for 47 years, extending back to the days of commercial rabbiting during the Depression. When he retired about four years ago from the position of supervisor for the Alexandra Pest Destruction Board in Central Otago, he had spent about 38 years supervising for such boards. He is the author of a book called “Rabbits Galore,” which is the story of rabbits in New Zealand.

He has developed an admiration for the animal, which has persisted against

great odds by reason of one strength, its fertility. I Mr McLean, who is chairman of the Wairarapa Domestic Rabbit Association, and his partner have all six - breeds of. rabbits approved for keeping in New Zealand / but they specialise in the ■ Black Rex, which is both a fur and a meat breed. Mr S. P. Baldwin, of Auckland, who judged ’the Rex ■. rabbits, said that the cham- | pion was a good type in ■' excellent condition and. with an excellent coat for texture and density. • x His interest in rabbits goes -'F back more than 50 years. In Britain, he followed in the footsteps of his father and after World War n showed and judged rabbits. • 7 The runner-up to the ' champion also came ; from . Masterton: a five-month-old Angora junior doe, Kalangadoo Mopsy, which was bred by Mrs Beverley Churcher, of Masterton, and which is i owned by her brother-in-law, Mr Gordon Churcher. An English Angora from American stock, it was a virtual ball of fluff in which it was not easy to find ears or a head.

An estimated 5000 people visited the college for a carnival day and saw rabbits of all colours and sizes. ;