It's still possible. Rabbits are more closely related to Humans than Bats, Pigs, or Cats, and Humans catch diseases from them, so it's dangerous to infect a giant population of Rabbits with something. They were very lucky the 1950 action didn't mutate into something that could jump into Humans. Billions of sick Rabbits were Fertile grounds for mutating germs. Before it ran it's course, I'm sure the final forms of the disease Rabbits overcame was very different from what they infected them with.
I remember that Myxomatoses was spread on purpose in Germany to diminish the rabbit population at least once when I was a young girl. It was absolutely horrible to see those blind rabbits hopping around and bumping into things until they just gave up and waited for death to come. In the end the population went down for only a short period.
i don't know much about wild rabbits in Australia, but i think if the reason is that the rabbit meat is too tough, slow cooks stew will handle that, that's always the case, but i'm not sure about the viruses they used to the rabbits but i think if it's cooked long enough the viruses will not survive.
Nope. Australia has no medium or big cats, no foxes and rabbits are way to fast for everything else except dingos.... which don't seem to predate rabbits effectively.
Marsupials are dumb as rocks compared to most other mammals and yet they've been able to thrive on Australia despite being eradicated everywhere else except for the American possum. So an animal like a rabbit that is widespread and has had to evolve to deal with a diverse array of threats has an easy time there.
You'd think Australia of all places would be completely fine with an invasive species, considering the absolutely insane animals they have there, but I guess even Australia isn't immune to the pervasive issues invasive species cause.
rabbit meat kept a lot of regional Australians alive during the depression years, which is why many older folk cant be bothered with it because it reminds them of tougher times when they didnt have a choice.
@@marekohampton8477 there, look, I'm showing my age. My early years were in the wheatbelt and I recall people who were born in the 30s and 40s stating that if they never had to eat rabbit again they would be happy. So it was a thing even after the 'official' depression years as well.
Rabbits are part of the reason I'm alive. I was born in the Netherlands in the Winter of '43/'44 and my dad kept domesticated rabbits. There was little food to be had and the next Winter was worse, many thousands starved to death in NL. The meat from the rabbits gave my mother enough protein that she didn't run out of milk.
Carel,do you remember when American bombers dropped food from their aircraft back in early 45 for the Netherlands?They flew over pre desegnated areas that were marked with a white cross our in the fields and unloaded tons of canned food and bread,and chocolate.
@@sonyascott6114 I was at most one and a half then so no memory yet. My parents didn't mention US planes but they did mention Swedish ones. Sweden was neutral and negotiated with both sides to be allowed to drop food in NL.
Thomas Austin, like some other early settlers, had previously tried to introduce rabbits but they all died. Austin realized these rabbits were domesticated breads which didn't know how to survive in the wild. In a letter to his sister he requested wild rabbits from a wild area of the UK he was familiar with. Rabbits are not native to the UK and were introduced from the semi desert region of Spain. These are the 24 rabbits he Austin released and they had the instincts that allowed them to flourish in Australia's environment. Initially Austin employed men to protect the rabbits. 2 years later he had to employ men to kill as many as they could to save his farm. During times of hardship, the 1930's great depression being one, rabbits proved vital for the survival of poor families.
domesticated rabbits can thrive in midwestern areas and stuff but they are miserable in winder and require forests to help the temps raise a bit from wind
Imagine that In 1930s the poor ate rabbit a freaking delicacy Today That's the real reason they infected the wealthy can't have the poor eating like kings
When I lived in Perth the local butcher had rabbits, wild caught for five bucks a piece. Used to eat them often. He also butchered roos and the meat was a third the price of beef and in my opinion better. Went back six years later and that butcher was gone and the new butcher had rabbits for 25 dollars a piece and roo meat twice the price of beef. My brother in law used to trap rabbits on his property and eat them all the time, they were good meat, not what this video claims as tough and inedible.
Likely food quality inspection regulations had been introduced, even possible the butcher was gone for not complying. If getting wild meat, hygiene and disease risk needs considering. Hunters often have little conscience and some of the poor/risky meat they portray as quality shows this. In NZ TV programs demonstrate this, stinking pissy old animals "harvested" (these introduced invasive animals are serious environmental pests) and then delightfully cooked as part of the show and declared gourmet. A spin off reality show could be themed about how to make a dirty old boot become a cooking show prize winner.
Depends on how old they are . People claim ostriches are tough , too, but they live to be 70 years old and they wouldn't butcher the ones still laying eggs and producing young birds... I have no idea how long rabbits can live...
I've had tough and stringy (wild) rabbit on several occassions, depends on the age of the rabbit and how you cook it. For me it has to be stewed until it falls off the bone. Most butchers shops in Vic carried a bit of (cheap) rabbit back in the 60/70's but it was never a big seller here.
@@sneeringimperialist6667 We have varying hares in Alaska and they are all good no matter how old they are. Looking it up rabbits in the wild live about two years.
As an Australian (and a shooter) I can tell you that a fair bit of this video is BS! I eat rabbit and my father eats rabbit, but I don't know anyone else that does. Rabbit can be purchased through butchers, but It has just become unpopular as a meat choice since the mass availability of more mainstream choices. There is no industry pushing the sale of rabbit meat. It is still popular with some of the European communities, but for generational Australians, after the 1960s it was seen as a poverty choice. You might not be able to afford lamb/beef/pork/chicken, but Mum or Dad could always shoot rabbit. It's decline in popularity is basically tied to the availability of expendable family income. Also in states like Queensland it is illegal to keep rabbits so there is no backyard rabbits; even as pets. As for it's eatability, it all depends on how it is cooked. Rabbit has almost no fat, so to prevent it from being dry some form of fat needs to be added in the cooking process. Bacon fat is a popular choice. Alternatively slow cooking produces good results.
I had rabbit quite a few times when i was young, and we were poor. Let me just say that when you say the meat is dry... oh boy, it is D.R.Y ... science should look into how rabbit is so dry it literally defies the laws of physics..., but it will stop you from starving, if your teeth don't wear down first!!
@@mystikmind2005 That's funny! I have a friend that grew up on a farm that was fairly isolated. She told me that when she was young her mother would cook rabbit and tell the kids that it was chicken. They all hated 'chicken'. When she was about 10 was the first time she went to a school friends for a sleepover, and they had chicken for dinner. She couldn't believe this moist and delicious meat was the same thing, it was like a religious revelation, and just came to the conclusion that her mother was a terrible cook. It was still a few years before she finally found out that it was rabbit.
I'm a Canadian and where I live we have two kinds of rabbits that are naturally hear the Cottontail and the jackrabbit. When I catch them I skin them, butcher them and then I marinate them and barbecue sauce and marinade for a day before I cook them on the barbecue. The meat is a bit tough but I like my meat a little tougher
My grandmother who is 96 years of age grew up on a farm in rural NSW in the 1930s- 1940s and the family lived on rabbit stews because it was a cheap source of meat , she and her sisters used to go out and set the traps . They also grew their own vegetables.
40+ years ago we raised rabbits and dad sold rabbits for meat. My little sister was always very picky about what she ate, the family joke was that she thought chickens had four legs until she was 8 years old because we had fried rabbit much more often than chicken. She never appreciated it.
My friends and I got kicked out of the boy scouts for making rabbit stew. We trapped them on a farm adjacent to the park we were camping in; we got the farmer's permission first and gave him a few after we finished. The reginal scout masters came around and asked where we got the rabbit stew, my buddy said _"We found them in those wrappers."_ and pointed a stack of hides with his breaking knife. The shat themselves. They called our parents to come and get us (we weren't close to home) Our folks all got there around the same time and my dad asked the rangers about charges. _"No charges. They break any laws. It all them."_ he said pointing at the regional f#cks. We all got letters from the national office ending our association with BSoA. The only truth in the charge report was the location of the jamboree. I had just made Life and was planning my Eagle project. I've hated that organization ever sense.
I hear you. Good for you. They have forever tarnished their name. When I was a lad back in the 50's the Boy Scouts were about being handy in the woods . My ,how things have changed . Bet the farmer appreciated some good protein.
@@jeffersondavis2530 He sure did. This was in the 70s before the BSA went to hell. The farmer even wrote a letter to the National HQ to get us reinstated.
@@asleepyb0i400 Today, absolutely. Back in the 70s they were still pretty good. My troops were all military brats. And our scoutmasters were all active duty military. My first scout master was a US Army Ranger Captain and my last (only had two) was a USAF survival instructor. We learned some shit.
As a Greek, rabbits are sold in meat shops here, along with beef, pork and chicken. And I believe rabbit is considered better than chicken. There are also very tasty recipes, best one being to fry in a casserole, and in the end pour some wine and close the fire and put lemon tree leaves on it for like 10 minutes after it's done (then throw away the lemon leaves, they are not edible). Try it, it very simple and amazing. This is a very traditional old-school Cretan recipe, 100s of years old. But the local rabbits are farmed and checked, they are not wildlife, because yes they do carry disease. You must always be very careful when processing wild life hunts (i.e. do not cut yourself with the knife used to process them, or do not mix the knife you process this meat with the knives you will eat it with). But once they are cooked, they are 100% safe. I would love to be able to hunt and eat rabbits with a precision airgun. I used to have one (now it is stolen), but only shot balloons with it ha ha (not allowed to hunt with air rifle in Greece, you need smoothbore weapons only).
Rabbits are the third most common pet in many countries after cats and dogs. To us, they're our precious family members, not food, just like dogs and cats are to some people. So if you them you're no different than those who hunt and kill dogs and cats for food!
@@try2justbe In France, we eat rabbit even if people have rabbits as pets, it is no problem. Farmers raise rabbits, chickens, pigs, cows, goats and sheep that everyone eats... except vegetarians and vegans of course.
Living in a rural area in the 1950's. We kids use to get up in the morning, take a rifle and go out in the pedic, shoot a couple of rabbits, and take it home to mum to cook for diner. Than we went to school.. Government bureaucracy put an end to that.....
lots of people do eat wild rabbits here in Australia, I have a few times and its not bad. It's just not everyone everywhere all the time. But many prefer to think of bunnys as pets.
@@James-kv6kb just about every environmental disaster involving animals getting out of control has been the result of some supposed expert saying " what could go wrong"
Rabbit was the staple meat eaten by poorer people. The 'Rabbitto" ( the man who caught rabbits and sold them door to door) was a regular in the neighbourhood I grew up in. Whilst the government tried biological means to control the rabbits , many people went out and shot their own. Often an area would be cleared and the Rabbitto would reintroduce rabbits to the area. There were some predators, dingos and wedge tail eagles were quick to pick them off. It was the environment that they adapted too. They seem to manage the floods and fires but droughts knocked them around. A low rainfall winter and subsequent low grasslands reduces the local population, kangaroos are more adaptive. Rabbits were introduced into Victoria not NSW. As the rabbit and human populations grew the residents actually introduced foxes. This was to develop the sport of fox hunting and assumed they would control rabbit numbers in the mean time. This became a major ecological disaster as the foxes found the native species ; who had no genetic history with foxes were easier prey. I never remember rabbit being tough meat, everyone liked it.
I remember them when I lived in Melbourne, they carried a bunch of rabbits and sold them for 1 - 2 dollars a piece (in the 60's...). Actually I had a mate at work that went hunting rabbits with a ferret in his spare time and then sold them at the workplace.
My great grandfather was a Rabbitoh in Sydney back in the depression. Rabbits in many areas are no longer there, calicivirus wiped many out. Akubra hat actually recently had to start importing skins for their hats for the first time.
My Grandpa was a hunter of rabbits and fed his 6 children and wife during the Great Depression . That sweet ,kindly man said it had to have a couple of "freezes " before he would take the Beagles out . I ate at his table a few times and rabbit was served with mac & cheese . Later I read that rabbits have no fat and are all protein. I guess you could eat nothing but rabbits and die if you didn't consume some fat. I hope that wonderful man is out with his beagles now that he is on the other side.
My dad was a teenager during the great depression and lived in rural OK. No dad, two brothers, and a mother. He, being the oldest, had to provide for the rest of the family. He told me he ate squirrels every way they could be cooked! Needless to say, we never had squirrel meat at home!
A somewhat non-Answer. “They” are currently telling us that we will soon be eating bugs of many sorts. So, wild rabbit 🐇, unless they have a Mad Cow toxicity, are edible. For me, certainly before I eat 🦗 crickets.
That long a war with that large a population would doom the Emus. The Rabbits would rapid evolve into either a Giant that could defeat an Emu, or develop group defense that could counterattack and win with sheer numbers, or most likely, develop superior speed and mobility the Emu couldn't match. Using Biological war methods is stupid and risky, Humans are more closely related to Lagomorphs than say, even toed Ungulates like Cattle and Pigs, and still diseases mutated and jumped from them to Humans, diseases that kill Rabbits could mutate at any time and jump to the Human population there. That hemorrhaging disease could mutate and have Australians bleeding out. Oh well, too late now.
@@jonathancummings6400 Actually you are wrong. Rats for instance, uncontrolled have left them to become bigger and stronger because of food waste and lack of population control. Mankind has been eating rabbits for tens of thousands of years so mutation in the human genome if we eat them en masse is not going to happen. People have become doey eyed over rabbits and a bit snobby too. Same with deer,left uncontrolled they eat all the veggies and green foliage. Venison is really tasty and with some cranberry sauce it knocks the socks off me in the taste department.
The reasons you give don't tell us why they don't catch Wild rabbits for food. You talk about raising rabbits on farms, and why that doesn't work. But that wouldn't help decrease the wild rabbit population--which is the problem rather than domestic rabbits-at all.
After the devastating hurricane in Miami, Florida in 1992, we had nothing to eat however, my father had been raising some rabbits that survived the storm. I asked my dad, "what are we going to eat?" He replied, "rabbit, for breakfast, lunch and dinner!" They were delicious fried up! We were without electricity for two weeks. We went through lots of rabbits. My dad was so smart!
I'm in the Bay Area, CA and I grew up occasionally eating wild rabbit that a step grandpa would hunt. I've had farmed rabbit and it's nothing special but wild rabbit is DELICIOUS. it's kinda hard to explain because it's texture is similar to dark chicken meat but it's just more robust in flavor, it tastes like the forest whereas the farmed ones taste like nothing. It just tastes rich and sweet and a little mineral...and it's so good. Aussies need to put down their meat pies and embrace wild rabbit. Then again no one has ever declared Australia as a food destination, I've known quite a few aussies and from what they explain the food sucks.
Growing up in the 50s, in the UK, my mum regularly cooked rabbit stew. It was my favourite. We compared it to chicken, but preferred rabbit, as it had more taste. Just had to look out for small bones.
We did eat farmed rabbits in the USA in the 1960's. These were in the school and military lunches, sold at supermarkets and served in some restaurants. A little different than chicken in taste, but about the same texture as chicken pieces.
Aussie hats were made of rabbit... but it's hard to compete with cheaper imports...yep used to eat on the farm .. rabbit stew saved a lot of people in the great depression..🇦🇺👍
When I was a kid I used to trap rabbits and also used ferrets with nets over rabbit burrows. I've caught a lot in hollow logs and in burrows under trees too, using ferrets and also putting my hand up logs, luckily no snakes. Some shooting as well. I used to put my fox terrier into blackberries and he'd catch some, or they'd be shot when they ran out and away a bit. I even crawled about 30 yards through blackberries, in a bit of a tunnel, and dragged out a rabbit from a burrow my dog had been frantically digging at. As a kid I wandered across paddocks and a couple of times I was quick enough to just pounce on a rabbit as it sat in its 'squat' which is just a hidey place, usually in a grass tussock. I used to catch, kill and clean the bunnies before taking some around on a covered platter to sell in my area. Made good money as a young kid. I sold their skins too as my dad shot foxes for their skins, before greenies ruined it (fur trade) and foxes started killing more native wildlife again. I spent nearly every weekend fishing, shooting and hunting rabbits. They are still eaten, bit tough but okay. I'm in my mid fifties.
Growing up I recall having rabbit for dinner a couple of times a week. Some of my earliest memories are of hunting rabbits with my father when he was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton California. He would hunt rabbits a couple of times a week and my mom would fix it for dinner the same night. This was in late 50's to early 60's and I was 5 to 6 years old. Unfortunately this all ended once he got stationed at Lake Mead Naval Air Station in Las Vegas in 1962. I have had rabbit only a few times since, eapecially when I wad stationed in Germany in the mid 1970's. My older sisters and I often are on the lookout for places that have rabbit on the menu but it is limited here in Vegas or the cost is too high when compared to good cut of prime rib.
@@flowerenki9818 same here. My parents were Missouri Farm folks and Great Depression era children. My father hunted rabbits as a kid just to put food on the table to feed his mom and sister because my grandfather disappeared at the start of the depression. I believe he stayed a Marine after WW2 was because it was the only stable thing he ever knew. Back then being in the Military was not like it is today as my father earned less a month than I did in the mid 70 and my sons earned more than 4 times a month from 2002 to 2014 than I did.
I hunted rabbits all the time while stationed in Las Vegas. The surrounding desert is full of both ordinary rabbits (“bunnies” that are quite edible and tasty) and jackrabbits (not really edible at all but so abundant they’re hunted as vermin)
@@santamanone when my dad was station at Lake Mead Naval the rabbits were not safe to eat because of a rabies out break among Jack Rabbits at the time. As a kid we hunted Jack's because they were a pest and cotton tails were only in the mountains or on protected lands by Lake Mead. That was in the early to mid 60's.
When my Dad was a boy in Oklahoma, you only hunted wild rabbits in the winter, never in warmer months, due to the parasites they carried in the summer.
Because we prefer Beef, for now and forever. Rabbits are considered a gamy pest, barely fit for consumption. But if we continue to see food pricing and availability being problematic, more...options will open up.
I'm sad because in Kenyan very rural poor without water, roads, or hospital villages we used to hunt rabbits from morning to evening on weekends, and only caught one or two-which was the only meat we could afford throughout my childhood, adolescence, and part of my adulthood.
@@naidoo307 didn't come from a rich country, nor am I rich. Just know how to keep the ecosystem around me in balance and live in harmony with my surroundings, not over hunt or exploit my environment for profit and greed.
Rabbit was a popular protein source from around the Great Depression up to the 1960s. It is still eaten today in both wild and farmed varieties but not as popular as it used to be.
Myxomatosis, I remember this disease well. It infected rabbits and eventually killed them, on the farm I used to see them sitting outside their burrows, blind with puss coming out of their eyes. No way anyone would think of eating that, or even let the dogs near them. Don't know what effect it would have on foxes, badgers and raptors that ate them.
First virus is released to kill rabbits. Now Coronavirus is there to kill more humans. Nature takes its revenge back! Human population is also exploded throughout the continents so should we kill humans
In Australia used to eat rabbits. My father grew up on it. I love it in a pie. People have been conditioned not to eat rabbits. And foreigners here do not eat them. I shoot a lot but lately another release of calesi virus has knocked ther numbers down. No the rabbits are no infected and not tough. Use it to replace chicken. It is a little lean so use oil to make it easier to cook.
I lived in Australia for 25 years, I ate wild rabbits, you don’t see them in Western Australia, but plenty of outback people eat them in the eastern states,so do they in Tasmania. Local tavern near me often had them on the menu . Love em
We do have plenty of rabbits here in WA. I hunt them for food sometimes, and they're not too bad for eating. We also have one rabbit farm that supplies butchers around Perth, I have bought these farmed rabbits too but they are usually frozen when you get them because people don't buy enough of them for the butchers to justify keeping fresh ones in stock. And yes, they're expensive.
Kangaroo in stores is a very low volume product. Rabbit used to be eaten regularly but the marketing of beef, manufactured meat and chicken has caused it to be less and less popular. PS This commentstor has researched rabbit meat at all,.... excellent white flesh.
I'm Aussie and have eaten rabbit many times....I have family in the country though. Also alot of Maltese Australians eat it. I dated a girl who's nonna cooked rabbit stew and it was awesome
Rabbit is available at your local butchers, although he may have to get it in for you. All the rabbit I have eaten, has been trapped or shot by me, or my father, or other relations and friends. It is not hard to pick a healthy bunny before squeezing the trigger. Rabbit meat is very low fat, easy to cook and makes a nice treat. During the Great Depression, rabbit was a common cheap source of meat, and in the cities, the 'Rabbito' was always busy selling his wares. There was a whole industry based on trapping and sending rabbits in refrigerated railway carriages to the cities to feed the poorer end of town. When my dad was courting my mum, he would ride his bicycle to her place, and always turn up with a couple of pair of bunnies. He would then shoot another couple of pair on the way back home. Always kept the cook happy.
While on a deployment to Tasmania in 1976 I had an opportunity to visit a farm on the north end of the island. While there the farmer was shooting rabbits at night. He sold the pelts in town and the meat was also taken to town and sold to shops where it was later consumed by diners.
Wild Rabbits are sold in numerous (not all) Australian supermarkets and by many independent butchers. How do I know this? Because I and many other licensed operators supply them with wild caught Rabbits. You can also get wild goat (rangeland Goat), Deer, Buffalo , pork all harvested from the wild.
@@douglaspefferd.c.2988 Rabbit is a delicatesse here in mid-Europe, seems like a waste to give it to dogs. It is actually surprisingly versatile and there are a lot of traditional recipes for it, so far I prepared it Greek style as a Stifado, Italian style as a white ragout served as a pasta sauce and Bohemian style with cabbage and dumplings.
0:47 Wait, you’re telling me that out of all of hundreds of Australia’s dangerous species, cute little bunnies don’t have predators to keep them in check?
I remember seeing rabbit for sale in the grocery store where my mother shopped in the 1950s in Michigan. They also had brains, tongue, tripe (cow's stomach), kidneys etc. This was a normal grocery store in a "middle class" area.
I have lived in many places in the US, you would be amazed what kind of off the wall stuff is still for sale in stores in different areas. And sweet Jesus, don't go to an international or Asian market! There is still one jar of eyeballs I had nightmares about. LOL
News, my Uncle made a living off the sale of Rabbits, he’s now passed. He had a “circuit” catching rabbits, chilling or freezing them and delivering them to butchers and restaurants, but the ever decreasing price of chicken drove him out of business. In the Great Depression the Rabbit got the name of “Underground Mutton”. The anti rabbit measures have been so successful that hat makers now import rabbit fur to make felt.
Before the release of the anti-rabbit viruses, rabbits used to be an important food source, especially in country areas and were often called 'underground mutton'. Kangaroo meat is available for human consumption but it isn't popular and generally isn't easily available. Other types of meat that perhaps should be available are camel, emu and even corcodile.
Virus is safe for humans, but, 1080 and pindone are used because rabbits developed resistance. These poisons are real danger. May be captured rabbit should be kept alive for few days, and if no any illness sympthoms develop, it can be eaten.
@Ksiezniczkajesttutaj emus are not protected, it's even legal to poison them with strychnine in water, which also kills a lot of kangaroo. Of course, if they are problem for agriculture, better to shoot or trap them and eat them, and also eat their eggs. But, farmers are so greedy.
the main reason the big stores don't sell wild rabbits is that they are afraid that if someone gets sick are lawsuits but with careful inspections and the proper cooking/storing methods there should not be any problems. we have the same problem with wild game here in NS Canada
The wild cottontail rabbits of the us are excellent eating. The problem here is hunters losing access to good hunting grounds because of urban and suburban sprawl.......safety zones have taken a lot land use away over the years. This is also the reason for the over-population of deer and wild turkey in many areas. It also leads to increase in coyote numbers in close proximity to people due to the abundance of prey.
Late reply, but I find it bemusing that the “oh, what a cute little bunny, we can‘t harm them” folks have resulted in houses encroaching coyote and so-called wildlife territory, resulting in coyotes attacking dogs and cats. Environmentalism is about saving the environment, not disrupting it because you like little bunnies (and put out every fire in a forest, but that’s another topic!).
@@advancetotabletop5328 What's the alternative though? The vast majority of fires are caused by humans, and due to extensive logging trees are not mature enough to survive them.
In Quebec we do go hare hunting but it is a side game (rabbits and hares are different). The most popular small game beside migratory birds is grouse because hares are very difficult to see. But if we happen to see a hare, it is a plus. The best time to hunt them is after the first snow. The snow melts and hares are white on dark ground so they are very easy to spot. At that time, for some reasons they get out, jump allover the place during the day as if it is meant that way to be harvested...
I grew up eating wild rabbit, when the government released the calicivirus that was pretty much the end of that. The poorist people like my family were already paranoid about myxomatosis but didn't really have much of a choice when it came to the meat they could put on the table, if it wasn't ground offal that's basicly dog food and tastes even worst, the odd rooster or hen that stopped laying, it was rabbit we trapped or shot. The whole thing was just one big ''screw you dirt farmer, go hungry'' from the government.
Rabbit is a great source of protein. It is also delicious and a staple in many European cuisines like Italian, French, German/ Central European, Spanish ... everywhere. And it is profitable. Rabbits as we were informed , breed like rabbits, they are easy to raise, mature fast and need no special equipment. I love rabbit. Wish we had more of it in N. American. Or even ... any.
Here in the phils. There are plenty of rabbit brreders, but lack of market.. I have a lots of rabbit, there meat is more healthy than chicken and pork..
Back in the 1980s my grandfather used to trap wild rabbits to sell to local shops. More recently, my local supermarket, one of the two major national chains, used to sell whole rabbit carcasses (and camel for a short period) until about a year ago. It was expensive, though, at about AUD$18 each.
In my Airforce days, late 1970s, the chowhall at Tyndall AFB, Fl. served fried rabbit a few times a week. I loved it. I also grew up going squirrel hunting with Dad, so yeah, we ate Tree Rats. Good eating! We ate some animals that later became protected species. Great Woodpecker, Robins and Gopher Tortoise were my favorites. But cannot hunt them now.
My father ate "Underground Mutton" when he was a kid (1940's) it was a staple. But as for the viruses they released on the mainland, They didn't release the virus in Tasmania. That is where most of Rabbit meat comes from in Australia. When I done my butchers apprenticeship (1980's) bunny's were 99c each. Today it's more like $40+ each..
When I was a child in England in the early '50s, some restaurants would try to pass off rabbit as chicken (then an expensive delicacy). I enjoyed rabbit pie and regret that in California I can only get hold of frozen Chinese rabbit occasionally and it is rather lacking in flavour.
I am from the uk. A pub near where l use to work made their own rabbit pies from rabbits hunted locally. With nice mashed potato,gravy and a nice pint of ale it was a perfect combination.
Wild rabbit meat was very popular here in Northern Ireland then its popularity start to fall from the 50s and basically nearly untouched in the 80s due to myxomatosis was released on the rabbit population they have now built immunity and numbers are growing and rabbit is slowly becoming popular again. Hunters is selling them to butchers hotels and so on and a lot of people who go to the gym is buying rabbit meat here due to them being a lean meat
I grew up eating wild rabbit. Nothing really wrong with them, as long as they don't have worms etc. If you cook them with bacon strips that adds a bit of fat and makes them even more tasty. There aren't the thousands of rabbits everywhere like there were when I was a kid. Fun fact: The 'Rabbit Proof Fence' was/is the longest fence in the world. Very run down now though and full of gaps.
"The rabbits didn't have natural enemies in Australia." Aight Aussies the gig is up. You don't actually have a bunch of murder snakes and spiders. You were just trying to scare us.
Like wild pigs in Texas. There are millions of them. You can sometimes see them out grazing along the freeways of major cities - all sizes, all colors, including spotted. Some weigh hundreds of pounds.The other day, I was driving on a freeway and saw a group of about twenty grazing along the freeway grass. I immediately slowed down because I didn't know if one might dart out onto the freeway like a deer. However, they are intelligent and seem to avoid traffic. Except for humans, and maybe coyotes for smaller ones, they seem to have no natural predators.
@@jinbiaoma4808 No one should be hungry in Texas. Even the city bayous and drainage ditches have giant fish. But you would have to be hungry to eat giant carps and gars.
I heard the wild pigs are a big pest problem in Texas. Is the local government trying to develop an export market for the meat, like Australia did for the Kangaroo? Wild Boar steak is my go to for Bbq in the summer in Canada.
I live in the southern US. Here we have 2 species of wild rabbit, cottontails(small) and swamp rabbits(big). Here they are considered a nice bonus when hunting. Some raise beagles just for rabbit hunting. In the south, wild game and fish are part of the culture except in the inner cities. We also have many immigrant ancestors that added their own flavor and cooking methods. You kill we will eat it.
I love wild rabbit, use to eat quite a few of them. Before the coyotes took over, our Deer, Turkey, Quail and Rabbit populations have Tanked due to those killing machine pest. Of course wild is tougher, but it's also 100% natural, it's nothing a pot of boiling water can't solve.
Wild rabbits are yummy. Like venison. I used to eat them while I was living in Europe. Now I live in Australia but I have never seen rabbit meat in a supermarket. You can easily get kangaroo meat, however, and it tastes also like venison.
Rabbit meat use to be a popular food during the early and mid part of the 20th century, particularly during the Great Depression. In fact, the "rabbitoh" (a man who walked around city and suburban streets calling "rabbitoh" to announce that he had fresh rabbits for sale) was said to have been a fairly common part of everyday city life. In the 1960s and 70's I grew up in a country town and it was still a common part of country life for men, young men in particular, to go out into the bush to shoot rabbits for the pot or maybe to sell. This was part of the ritual of growing up and male coming of age. These would be brought home, skinned and cooked by "mum". Somehow as Australia became more wealthy, and urban, the eating of rabbit was more or less abandoned to a significant extent. There are several reasons for this I think. The first is that it was seen as "depression era food". Which to some extent it was. It was therefore not associated with high cuisine as people's tastes changed to more exotic fare and of course to commercialized and fast food etc. After WW2, the huge influx of migrants from Europe where rabbits were nto common as food did not help. Shopping at supermarkets did not help either as rabbits are not the kind of rapid turnover or long shelf-life items they like to stock. Another reason was that when rabbits became endemic and huge numbers of them infested the countryside, attempts were made by the government to control them by introducing various biological agents. Myxomatosis, a type of pox virus was one such disease and it helped create the association in peoples' minds between rabbits and disease. Simply put they became thought of as a bit edgy and maybe even dangerous to eat so instead they were relegated to pet food. People still did eat rabbit occasionally and it is still sometimes seen in upmarket butchers' shop windows but the rabbits are almost invariably sold, not as wild game, but as "farm raised" and are accordingly expensive. You would have to REALLY want a rabbit if you bought one of these. Another reason for rabbit being less than popular is that rabbit is very tough and stringy unless properly cooked. It has little fat (which is good for health but bad for taste) and requires very specific cooking techniques to turn it into a successful meal. I imagine people mostly would "joint" the rabbit into small morsels and stew it slowly in a pot with vegetables and herbs, which could make it palatable - maybe even delicious. But in families today with both parents working, few have the time or energy for this.
Even without the viruses I don't think rabbit meat would have been that particularly popular long term. Its just that when weighing their options, people with disposable incomes prefer steak, lamb, chicken and even kangaroo meat over rabbit. At least I do as I've never particularly liked rabbit meat and I don't consider myself a fussy eater.
I’ve eaten plenty of rabbits. My father in law was a very keen ferreter. We used ferrets to drive the rabbits from burrows into nets for trapping. What’s being missed here is that without rabbits one of Australia’s greatest brands, Akubra, wouldn’t exist without rabbits. Their fur was used for the felt that makes the iconic Akubra hat.
The skins were boiled up to make rabbit skin glue an important ingredient in artists gesso. I once built a fortepiano and glued it together with rabbit glue ,it is very strong.
In Canada thay used to send a ferret down the rabbit hole and catch the rabbit and cook and eat them..I often hunted rabbits for food my dad. One time the ferret flushed out a skunk.
@@peetiegonzalez1845 To protect the Native wildlife, Rabbit traps can catch other things, and to protect the public, the Rabbits are full of disease from the 1950 move, and the later move. Humans are more closely related to Rabbits than a Pig for example, and diseases can mutate and hop from Pigs to Humans. So it would be even easier with Rabbits.
@@peetiegonzalez1845 Too expensive. There are so many Rabbits that the guns would break from overuse and they would run out of bullets. Remember, the initial estimate was a population in the BILLIONS!!! To get them down to a manageable population would be forces like in WW2, like the Huge Russian Army on the Eastern front, all 34 million soldiers with the same relentless determination to kill Rabbits as they had fighting the Germans. It would take quite a while to take out most of the Rabbits.
I'm a retired policeman from Belgium. I've eaten wild and domesticated rabbits all my life. Up until 2000, there were plenty of rabbits around : later on, diseases killed most of them. When I had a night shift, we sometimes found some road kill rabbits : I took them home, butchered and cooked them (don't believe the video : wild rabbits are very good eating). There's one story from the golden rabbit years that I was reminded of at my retirement party : a certain policeman found a roadkill rabbit, tossed it in the car behind the driver's seat and forgot about it. They all said it was me, but I highly doubt that 😇
I farm my own rabbits on a home subsistence basis and would totally recommend the rabbit meat to anyone. If Australians can eat kangaroo, then surely wild rabbit pie would be popular. " A pest is a resource not yet harvested" Bill Mollison, the wise Australian who gave the world Permaculture.
My mom fed me rabbit and told me it was fried chicken till after I was done. I was about 10. It had a slightly "weird/unfamiliar " taste but was still pretty good.
@NW Lady Laura : Lauren, I've eaten it several times, and yes, it is tasty. Problem is, most women are queasy about eating rabbits in the US. I used to go to a turkey farm outlet that also sold dressed & skinned rabbits.
Like other Ausies rabbit was on our dinner table. Nothing wrong with wild ones in 60s . I have eaten Goat also. Times were tough when I was a kid, but our mother could make a meal of almost anything. Pigs trotters, lamb brains, ox tail stew and dumplings. Young ones today don't know they are alive.
But those same mosquitos infected from rabbits, will also be infecting other livestock also, yet Australians eat that livestock, including Kangaroos. Go figure.
@@patrickf2671 there are lots of people who eat rats in poverty stricken countries. It's a rodent, so is a rabbit, and I'm partial to a bowl of rabbit stew. Not so sure about rat stew though.
I've eaten lots of rabbits. To say they are tough and not good is BS. One of the best meats there is. Don't think this guy knows what he is talking about.
I've often wondered the same thing. You cleared that up nicely, thanks! By the way...kangaroo meat is extremely lean, dense, fine-grained, and absolutely delicious!
rabbits were originally let go near Geelong in Victoria, they are well and truly eaten by many people, they are also sold in some butchers as well as back doors to some pubs, l cannot think of any problems that rabbits get from mosquitos as the usual problems are parasites such as fluke or tapeworms ect... at home our favourite is Kentucky fried rabbit or rabbit stew, it is a good feed if you can cook
A lot of horror movies start out with a bunch of "scientists " solving a problem by releasing a modified virus.
Stories yes. Real life someone brings some cute bunny's over and released them. Or wild hogs.
@Straight Not White Man 🏳️🌈⃠ Government straight up denies that. Lol
It's still possible. Rabbits are more closely related to Humans than Bats, Pigs, or Cats, and Humans catch diseases from them, so it's dangerous to infect a giant population of Rabbits with something. They were very lucky the 1950 action didn't mutate into something that could jump into Humans. Billions of sick Rabbits were Fertile grounds for mutating germs. Before it ran it's course, I'm sure the final forms of the disease Rabbits overcame was very different from what they infected them with.
@Straight Not White Man 🏳️🌈⃠ TH-cam Deleted? You may be on to something.
I remember that Myxomatoses was spread on purpose in Germany to diminish the rabbit population at least once when I was a young girl. It was absolutely horrible to see those blind rabbits hopping around and bumping into things until they just gave up and waited for death to come. In the end the population went down for only a short period.
As an Aussie I can assure you as a kid my mum made plenty of rabbit stews, rabbits were a cheap easy food that dad would catch with ferrets.
Yep, as a kid my Dad lived on mutton and underground mutton ( rabbits ) !
i don't know much about wild rabbits in Australia, but i think if the reason is that the rabbit meat is too tough, slow cooks stew will handle that, that's always the case, but i'm not sure about the viruses they used to the rabbits but i think if it's cooked long enough the viruses will not survive.
When you say "with ferrets", do you mean he would catch both ferrets and rabbits? Or are the ferrets assisting in the hunt?
In many East coast areas where rainfall was plentiful, grass and grazing was good, the rabbits were always fat little bunnies.@@sadjester800
@@FlyingFox86They send the ferrets down the rabbit holes to flush out the rabbits
Is anyone else absolutely shocked by the fact that Australia, of all places, didn't have anything that would eat rabbits?
They do, the rabbits probably lived in an area where predators were scarce, so their numbers got out of control.
Australia doesn't have many predators compared to a country like the US. Just a lot of venomous animals.
Nope. Australia has no medium or big cats, no foxes and rabbits are way to fast for everything else except dingos.... which don't seem to predate rabbits effectively.
Marsupials are dumb as rocks compared to most other mammals and yet they've been able to thrive on Australia despite being eradicated everywhere else except for the American possum. So an animal like a rabbit that is widespread and has had to evolve to deal with a diverse array of threats has an easy time there.
You'd think Australia of all places would be completely fine with an invasive species, considering the absolutely insane animals they have there, but I guess even Australia isn't immune to the pervasive issues invasive species cause.
rabbit meat kept a lot of regional Australians alive during the depression years, which is why many older folk cant be bothered with it because it reminds them of tougher times when they didnt have a choice.
@@marekohampton8477 there, look, I'm showing my age. My early years were in the wheatbelt and I recall people who were born in the 30s and 40s stating that if they never had to eat rabbit again they would be happy. So it was a thing even after the 'official' depression years as well.
Rabbits are part of the reason I'm alive. I was born in the Netherlands in the Winter of '43/'44 and my dad kept domesticated rabbits. There was little food to be had and the next Winter was worse, many thousands starved to death in NL. The meat from the rabbits gave my mother enough protein that she didn't run out of milk.
Carel,do you remember when American bombers dropped food from their aircraft back in early 45 for the Netherlands?They flew over pre desegnated areas that were marked with a white cross our in the fields and unloaded tons of canned food and bread,and chocolate.
If humans don’t eat rabbits they can be exported to countries that breed alligators or Crocs for culinary purposes. Then they will be useful b
Respect to you from Brisbane , Australia .
@@sonyascott6114 I was at most one and a half then so no memory yet. My parents didn't mention US planes but they did mention Swedish ones. Sweden was neutral and negotiated with both sides to be allowed to drop food in NL.
Fuckin$25 each..at. Broken Hill butcher 8 yrs ago ,not worth that.Illegal to trap🙄🙄🤔
Thomas Austin, like some other early settlers, had previously tried to introduce rabbits but they all died. Austin realized these rabbits were domesticated breads which didn't know how to survive in the wild. In a letter to his sister he requested wild rabbits from a wild area of the UK he was familiar with. Rabbits are not native to the UK and were introduced from the semi desert region of Spain. These are the 24 rabbits he Austin released and they had the instincts that allowed them to flourish in Australia's environment. Initially Austin employed men to protect the rabbits. 2 years later he had to employ men to kill as many as they could to save his farm. During times of hardship, the 1930's great depression being one, rabbits proved vital for the survival of poor families.
Unless you release several viruses into the population......now you’ve tainted the meat. 🙄
domesticated rabbits can thrive in midwestern areas and stuff but they are miserable in winder and require forests to help the temps raise a bit from wind
100%
Imagine that
In 1930s the poor ate rabbit a freaking delicacy
Today
That's the real reason they infected the wealthy can't have the poor eating like kings
Stories like these are why I have the mindset that if we can eat it, it's not invasive; we just aren't putting enough on our plates.
When I lived in Perth the local butcher had rabbits, wild caught for five bucks a piece. Used to eat them often. He also butchered roos and the meat was a third the price of beef and in my opinion better. Went back six years later and that butcher was gone and the new butcher had rabbits for 25 dollars a piece and roo meat twice the price of beef. My brother in law used to trap rabbits on his property and eat them all the time, they were good meat, not what this video claims as tough and inedible.
Likely food quality inspection regulations had been introduced, even possible the butcher was gone for not complying. If getting wild meat, hygiene and disease risk needs considering. Hunters often have little conscience and some of the poor/risky meat they portray as quality shows this. In NZ TV programs demonstrate this, stinking pissy old animals "harvested" (these introduced invasive animals are serious environmental pests) and then delightfully cooked as part of the show and declared gourmet. A spin off reality show could be themed about how to make a dirty old boot become a cooking show prize winner.
Depends on how old they are . People claim ostriches are tough , too, but they live to be 70 years old and they wouldn't butcher the ones still laying eggs and producing young birds... I have no idea how long rabbits can live...
I've had tough and stringy (wild) rabbit on several occassions, depends on the age of the rabbit and how you cook it. For me it has to be stewed until it falls off the bone. Most butchers shops in Vic carried a bit of (cheap) rabbit back in the 60/70's but it was never a big seller here.
@@sneeringimperialist6667 We have varying hares in Alaska and they are all good no matter how old they are. Looking it up rabbits in the wild live about two years.
It don't matter rabbit roo or cattle if it's a bad season it a very tough chew
As an Australian (and a shooter) I can tell you that a fair bit of this video is BS! I eat rabbit and my father eats rabbit, but I don't know anyone else that does. Rabbit can be purchased through butchers, but It has just become unpopular as a meat choice since the mass availability of more mainstream choices. There is no industry pushing the sale of rabbit meat. It is still popular with some of the European communities, but for generational Australians, after the 1960s it was seen as a poverty choice. You might not be able to afford lamb/beef/pork/chicken, but Mum or Dad could always shoot rabbit. It's decline in popularity is basically tied to the availability of expendable family income. Also in states like Queensland it is illegal to keep rabbits so there is no backyard rabbits; even as pets. As for it's eatability, it all depends on how it is cooked. Rabbit has almost no fat, so to prevent it from being dry some form of fat needs to be added in the cooking process. Bacon fat is a popular choice. Alternatively slow cooking produces good results.
I reckon it tastes like crab to be honest, but crab tastes better
I had rabbit quite a few times when i was young, and we were poor. Let me just say that when you say the meat is dry... oh boy, it is D.R.Y ... science should look into how rabbit is so dry it literally defies the laws of physics..., but it will stop you from starving, if your teeth don't wear down first!!
@@mystikmind2005 That's funny! I have a friend that grew up on a farm that was fairly isolated. She told me that when she was young her mother would cook rabbit and tell the kids that it was chicken. They all hated 'chicken'. When she was about 10 was the first time she went to a school friends for a sleepover, and they had chicken for dinner. She couldn't believe this moist and delicious meat was the same thing, it was like a religious revelation, and just came to the conclusion that her mother was a terrible cook. It was still a few years before she finally found out that it was rabbit.
@@andrew5792 Hahahaha.... well my mother WAS a terrible cook, so the rabbit she cooked was double jeopardy!! lol
I'm a Canadian and where I live we have two kinds of rabbits that are naturally hear the Cottontail and the jackrabbit. When I catch them I skin them, butcher them and then I marinate them and barbecue sauce and marinade for a day before I cook them on the barbecue. The meat is a bit tough but I like my meat a little tougher
My grandmother who is 96 years of age grew up on a farm in rural NSW in the 1930s- 1940s and the family lived on rabbit stews because it was a cheap source of meat , she and her sisters used to go out and set the traps . They also grew their own vegetables.
40+ years ago we raised rabbits and dad sold rabbits for meat. My little sister was always very picky about what she ate, the family joke was that she thought chickens had four legs until she was 8 years old because we had fried rabbit much more often than chicken. She never appreciated it.
That's funny. I fed my daughter kangaroo meat then once she finished I sang the Skippy tv show jingle. If look's could kill. hehe.
My little sister was told it was "prairie chicken." 😆
My friends and I got kicked out of the boy scouts for making rabbit stew. We trapped them on a farm adjacent to the park we were camping in; we got the farmer's permission first and gave him a few after we finished. The reginal scout masters came around and asked where we got the rabbit stew, my buddy said _"We found them in those wrappers."_ and pointed a stack of hides with his breaking knife.
The shat themselves. They called our parents to come and get us (we weren't close to home) Our folks all got there around the same time and my dad asked the rangers about charges. _"No charges. They break any laws. It all them."_ he said pointing at the regional f#cks.
We all got letters from the national office ending our association with BSoA. The only truth in the charge report was the location of the jamboree. I had just made Life and was planning my Eagle project. I've hated that organization ever sense.
I hear you. Good for you. They have forever tarnished their name. When I was a lad back in the 50's the Boy Scouts were about being handy in the woods . My ,how things have changed . Bet the farmer appreciated some good protein.
@nautifella
You were better off without the Boy Scouts. They literally suck so bad.
@@jeffersondavis2530 He sure did. This was in the 70s before the BSA went to hell. The farmer even wrote a letter to the National HQ to get us reinstated.
@@asleepyb0i400 Today, absolutely. Back in the 70s they were still pretty good. My troops were all military brats. And our scoutmasters were all active duty military.
My first scout master was a US Army Ranger Captain and my last (only had two) was a USAF survival instructor.
We learned some shit.
just think, if you would have instead sodomized each other, the BSoA would have been happy with you
As a Greek, rabbits are sold in meat shops here, along with beef, pork and chicken. And I believe rabbit is considered better than chicken. There are also very tasty recipes, best one being to fry in a casserole, and in the end pour some wine and close the fire and put lemon tree leaves on it for like 10 minutes after it's done (then throw away the lemon leaves, they are not edible). Try it, it very simple and amazing. This is a very traditional old-school Cretan recipe, 100s of years old. But the local rabbits are farmed and checked, they are not wildlife, because yes they do carry disease. You must always be very careful when processing wild life hunts (i.e. do not cut yourself with the knife used to process them, or do not mix the knife you process this meat with the knives you will eat it with). But once they are cooked, they are 100% safe.
I would love to be able to hunt and eat rabbits with a precision airgun. I used to have one (now it is stolen), but only shot balloons with it ha ha (not allowed to hunt with air rifle in Greece, you need smoothbore weapons only).
You can clean the knife after processing..... and you just cut very carefully and deliberately.
Rabbits are the third most common pet in many countries after cats and dogs. To us, they're our precious family members, not food, just like dogs and cats are to some people. So if you them you're no different than those who hunt and kill dogs and cats for food!
How common was goat meat in Greece? And what's most popular animals in Greece by choice of meats ?
@@try2justbe In France, we eat rabbit even if people have rabbits as pets, it is no problem. Farmers raise rabbits, chickens, pigs, cows, goats and sheep that everyone eats... except vegetarians and vegans of course.
Sounds yummy. But yes, wild rabbits do tend to carry tularemia, which is the worst thing.
Living in a rural area in the 1950's. We kids use to get up in the morning, take a rifle and go out in the pedic, shoot a couple of rabbits, and take it home to mum to cook for diner. Than we went to school.. Government bureaucracy put an end to that.....
Rabbits are good eating. And, they're easy to clean and prep.
Thanks. I started my rabbitry just a few weeks ago. As spring gets here I plan on breeding them and expanding the operation
lots of people do eat wild rabbits here in Australia, I have a few times and its not bad. It's just not everyone everywhere all the time. But many prefer to think of bunnys as pets.
Free food
No issues with eating the rabbits that have all been subjected to the man-made viruses?
@@raizt1596 do you know half of the stuff they put in your supermarket food.🤣
@@raizt1596 what? Please elaborate.
Behind every disaster is an expert.
Behind every comment there's an expert
@@James-kv6kb
Behind every opinion is an A$$#ole
@@James-kv6kb just about every environmental disaster involving animals getting out of control has been the result of some supposed expert saying " what could go wrong"
@@dalekimball8846 ok that's a little better than what you said before we're starting to understand what you're trying to convey
@@James-kv6kb that's the first comment I've made but if it helps all the better.
Rabbit was the staple meat eaten by poorer people. The 'Rabbitto" ( the man who caught rabbits and sold them door to door) was a regular in the neighbourhood I grew up in. Whilst the government tried biological means to control the rabbits , many people went out and shot their own. Often an area would be cleared and the Rabbitto would reintroduce rabbits to the area. There were some predators, dingos and wedge tail eagles were quick to pick them off. It was the environment that they adapted too. They seem to manage the floods and fires but droughts knocked them around. A low rainfall winter and subsequent low grasslands reduces the local population, kangaroos are more adaptive.
Rabbits were introduced into Victoria not NSW. As the rabbit and human populations grew the residents actually introduced foxes. This was to develop the sport of fox hunting and assumed they would control rabbit numbers in the mean time. This became a major ecological disaster as the foxes found the native species ; who had no genetic history with foxes were easier prey.
I never remember rabbit being tough meat, everyone liked it.
Rabbit meat comes out nice and tender from a slow cooker that's been in for 3/4 hours.
I wondered where the South Sydney NRL club got their nickname "Rabbitohs" from. Now I know!
I'd rather have rabbit than chicken any day
I remember them when I lived in Melbourne, they carried a bunch of rabbits and sold them for 1 - 2 dollars a piece (in the 60's...).
Actually I had a mate at work that went hunting rabbits with a ferret in his spare time and then sold them at the workplace.
In USA I raised NZ White rabbits and ate them. Delicious like high quality chicken breast.
My great grandfather was a Rabbitoh in Sydney back in the depression. Rabbits in many areas are no longer there, calicivirus wiped many out.
Akubra hat actually recently had to start importing skins for their hats for the first time.
My Grandpa was a hunter of rabbits and fed his 6 children and wife during the Great Depression . That sweet ,kindly man said it had to have a couple of "freezes " before he would take the Beagles out . I ate at his table a few times and rabbit was served with mac & cheese . Later I read that rabbits have no fat and are all protein. I guess you could eat nothing but rabbits and die if you didn't consume some fat.
I hope that wonderful man is out with his beagles now that he is on the other side.
My dad was a teenager during the great depression and lived in rural OK. No dad, two brothers, and a mother. He, being the oldest, had to provide for the rest of the family. He told me he ate squirrels every way they could be cooked! Needless to say, we never had squirrel meat at home!
yeah, its called rabbit starvation, gotta have some fat and other nutrients, gotta eat more than just daffy and the gang.
@@feralbigdog daffys a duck
A somewhat non-Answer. “They” are currently telling us that we will soon be eating bugs of many sorts. So, wild rabbit 🐇, unless they have a Mad Cow toxicity, are edible. For me, certainly before I eat 🦗 crickets.
@Richard pQuette That's not really quite "cricket" of you is it ol boy?
Emu's could be hired to deal with the problem. They were able to defeat the Australian Army so they can deal with a few hundred million rabbits.
It was the cost of ammunition that caused us to give up culling them.
They cannot kill Emus, Cats , or Rabbits, but they catch a Crocodile 🐊.
Mount frickn laser beams on there heads. With target identifying software. Rabbit problem solved.
That long a war with that large a population would doom the Emus. The Rabbits would rapid evolve into either a Giant that could defeat an Emu, or develop group defense that could counterattack and win with sheer numbers, or most likely, develop superior speed and mobility the Emu couldn't match. Using Biological war methods is stupid and risky, Humans are more closely related to Lagomorphs than say, even toed Ungulates like Cattle and Pigs, and still diseases mutated and jumped from them to Humans, diseases that kill Rabbits could mutate at any time and jump to the Human population there. That hemorrhaging disease could mutate and have Australians bleeding out. Oh well, too late now.
@@jonathancummings6400 Actually you are wrong. Rats for instance, uncontrolled have left them to become bigger and stronger because of food waste and lack of population control. Mankind has been eating rabbits for tens of thousands of years so mutation in the human genome if we eat them en masse is not going to happen. People have become doey eyed over rabbits and a bit snobby too. Same with deer,left uncontrolled they eat all the veggies and green foliage. Venison is really tasty and with some cranberry sauce it knocks the socks off me in the taste department.
The reasons you give don't tell us why they don't catch Wild rabbits for food. You talk about raising rabbits on farms, and why that doesn't work. But that wouldn't help decrease the wild rabbit population--which is the problem rather than domestic rabbits-at all.
After the devastating hurricane in Miami, Florida in 1992, we had nothing to eat however, my father had been raising some rabbits that survived the storm. I asked my dad, "what are we going to eat?" He replied, "rabbit, for breakfast, lunch and dinner!" They were delicious fried up! We were without electricity for two weeks. We went through lots of rabbits. My dad was so smart!
What, human flesh wasn't good enough for yall ?, picky kids.
What's up doc ?
@@thatone8085 you for dinner. W/carrot garnish.
HURRICANE ANDREW
@@captainamericaamerica8090 Correct!!
I'm in the Bay Area, CA and I grew up occasionally eating wild rabbit that a step grandpa would hunt. I've had farmed rabbit and it's nothing special but wild rabbit is DELICIOUS. it's kinda hard to explain because it's texture is similar to dark chicken meat but it's just more robust in flavor, it tastes like the forest whereas the farmed ones taste like nothing. It just tastes rich and sweet and a little mineral...and it's so good. Aussies need to put down their meat pies and embrace wild rabbit. Then again no one has ever declared Australia as a food destination, I've known quite a few aussies and from what they explain the food sucks.
Most Americans are brainwashed by cartoons. Bugs Bunny and Donald Ducks won’t be on the table.
😂 That's a very good description indeed. You have lyrical talent...
Growing up in the 50s, in the UK, my mum regularly cooked rabbit stew. It was my favourite. We compared it to chicken, but preferred rabbit, as it had more taste. Just had to look out for small bones.
We did eat farmed rabbits in the USA in the 1960's. These were in the school and military lunches, sold at supermarkets and served in some restaurants. A little different than chicken in taste, but about the same texture as chicken pieces.
Aussie hats were made of rabbit... but it's hard to compete with cheaper imports...yep used to eat on the farm .. rabbit stew saved a lot of people in the great depression..🇦🇺👍
When I was a kid I used to trap rabbits and also used ferrets with nets over rabbit burrows. I've caught a lot in hollow logs and in burrows under trees too, using ferrets and also putting my hand up logs, luckily no snakes. Some shooting as well. I used to put my fox terrier into blackberries and he'd catch some, or they'd be shot when they ran out and away a bit. I even crawled about 30 yards through blackberries, in a bit of a tunnel, and dragged out a rabbit from a burrow my dog had been frantically digging at. As a kid I wandered across paddocks and a couple of times I was quick enough to just pounce on a rabbit as it sat in its 'squat' which is just a hidey place, usually in a grass tussock. I used to catch, kill and clean the bunnies before taking some around on a covered platter to sell in my area. Made good money as a young kid. I sold their skins too as my dad shot foxes for their skins, before greenies ruined it (fur trade) and foxes started killing more native wildlife again. I spent nearly every weekend fishing, shooting and hunting rabbits. They are still eaten, bit tough but okay. I'm in my mid fifties.
Because it's DUCK SEASON!!!
Good one
Wabbit season!!!
@@royr1016 Wabbit Season!
@@royr1016 Wabbit Season!
@@royr1016 shoot him now ! shoot him now!
Growing up I recall having rabbit for dinner a couple of times a week. Some of my earliest memories are of hunting rabbits with my father when he was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton California. He would hunt rabbits a couple of times a week and my mom would fix it for dinner the same night. This was in late 50's to early 60's and I was 5 to 6 years old. Unfortunately this all ended once he got stationed at Lake Mead Naval Air Station in Las Vegas in 1962. I have had rabbit only a few times since, eapecially when I wad stationed in Germany in the mid 1970's. My older sisters and I often are on the lookout for places that have rabbit on the menu but it is limited here in Vegas or the cost is too high when compared to good cut of prime rib.
We gr
We grew up very poor, my father had a jo but not enough pay, so we hunted rabit. Smiles. Good old days
@@flowerenki9818 same here. My parents were Missouri Farm folks and Great Depression era children. My father hunted rabbits as a kid just to put food on the table to feed his mom and sister because my grandfather disappeared at the start of the depression. I believe he stayed a Marine after WW2 was because it was the only stable thing he ever knew. Back then being in the Military was not like it is today as my father earned less a month than I did in the mid 70 and my sons earned more than 4 times a month from 2002 to 2014 than I did.
I hunted rabbits all the time while stationed in Las Vegas. The surrounding desert is full of both ordinary rabbits (“bunnies” that are quite edible and tasty) and jackrabbits (not really edible at all but so abundant they’re hunted as vermin)
@@santamanone when my dad was station at Lake Mead Naval the rabbits were not safe to eat because of a rabies out break among Jack Rabbits at the time. As a kid we hunted Jack's because they were a pest and cotton tails were only in the mountains or on protected lands by Lake Mead. That was in the early to mid 60's.
I had an uncle who ate Rabbits each other day from farm , considering meat consumption problem solved in a year ..cheers
When asked about his math skills Buggs Bunny replied “ there’s one thing us rabbits can do is multiply “.
When my Dad was a boy in Oklahoma, you only hunted wild rabbits in the winter, never in warmer months, due to the parasites they carried in the summer.
Why not thoroughly cook them though? Wouldn't that kill the parasites?
It’s not even internal parasites people see. It’s scares from those flies that use animals to lay eggs in.
It’s not even internal parasites people see. It’s scars from those flies that use animals to lay eggs in.
Rabbit only in the months with an "r" in the name. Here in Arizona we also leave out April and September.
@@thehoneybadger8089 Same for squirrels, only in months with an "R". Bot Fly parasites. We called the parasites wolves as a kid, I'm not sure why.
Because we prefer Beef, for now and forever. Rabbits are considered a gamy pest, barely fit for consumption. But if we continue to see food pricing and availability being problematic, more...options will open up.
I'm sad because in Kenyan very rural poor without water, roads, or hospital villages we used to hunt rabbits from morning to evening on weekends, and only caught one or two-which was the only meat we could afford throughout my childhood, adolescence, and part of my adulthood.
Okay?
Release the rabbits, they’d breed like rabbits 🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇
Maybe if u didn't hunt them "morning to evening" and gave them enough time to breed and populate u will catch more 🤔
Maybe if u come from a rich country you don’t understand hunger and desperation 😢
@@naidoo307 didn't come from a rich country, nor am I rich. Just know how to keep the ecosystem around me in balance and live in harmony with my surroundings, not over hunt or exploit my environment for profit and greed.
Stay strong 💯🙏
Rabbit was a popular protein source from around the Great Depression up to the 1960s. It is still eaten today in both wild and farmed varieties but not as popular as it used to be.
It's also expensive where I live ive seen it as high as 40 dollars per rabbit
Myxomatosis, I remember this disease well. It infected rabbits and eventually killed them, on the farm I used to see them sitting outside their burrows, blind with puss coming out of their eyes. No way anyone would think of eating that, or even let the dogs near them. Don't know what effect it would have on foxes, badgers and raptors that ate them.
"Absolute record for the breeding of mammals on our planet." You may have failed to mention Homo sapiens.
Agree!
banbury... my thoughts exactly.
H-sapiens, the most destructive and dangerous of all pests.
Listen to the to the self hating eco fascists, Be part of the solution ( not genocide sorry ) or shut up.
First virus is released to kill rabbits. Now Coronavirus is there to kill more humans. Nature takes its revenge back! Human population is also exploded throughout the continents so should we kill humans
We only just now qreached 8 billion
In Australia used to eat rabbits. My father grew up on it. I love it in a pie. People have been conditioned not to eat rabbits. And foreigners here do not eat them. I shoot a lot but lately another release of calesi virus has knocked ther numbers down. No the rabbits are no infected and not tough. Use it to replace chicken. It is a little lean so use oil to make it easier to cook.
Who said we don't eat rabbits? Seen the price at the local butcher lately?
I lived in Australia for 25 years, I ate wild rabbits, you don’t see them in Western Australia, but plenty of outback people eat them in the eastern states,so do they in Tasmania. Local tavern near me often had them on the menu . Love em
We do have plenty of rabbits here in WA. I hunt them for food sometimes, and they're not too bad for eating. We also have one rabbit farm that supplies butchers around Perth, I have bought these farmed rabbits too but they are usually frozen when you get them because people don't buy enough of them for the butchers to justify keeping fresh ones in stock. And yes, they're expensive.
Plenty of bunnies in WA. I work 25 ferrets 3 to 4 times a week. There's bloody plenty
Because ther is an fence that stops them
@@steffenrosmus9177 that don't stop em I average 100 per week. Ferretting
can walk 5 minutes away from my house and there is rabbits. they are everywhere in w.a
It's not wabbit season...It's duck season!
I season them before cooking. Thats the only season you need to worry about.
Kangaroo in stores is a very low volume product.
Rabbit used to be eaten regularly but the marketing of beef, manufactured meat and chicken has caused it to be less and less popular.
PS
This commentstor has researched rabbit meat at all,.... excellent white flesh.
I'm Aussie and have eaten rabbit many times....I have family in the country though. Also alot of Maltese Australians eat it. I dated a girl who's nonna cooked rabbit stew and it was awesome
Rabbit is available at your local butchers, although he may have to get it in for you. All the rabbit I have eaten, has been trapped or shot by me, or my father, or other relations and friends. It is not hard to pick a healthy bunny before squeezing the trigger. Rabbit meat is very low fat, easy to cook and makes a nice treat.
During the Great Depression, rabbit was a common cheap source of meat, and in the cities, the 'Rabbito' was always busy selling his wares. There was a whole industry based on trapping and sending rabbits in refrigerated railway carriages to the cities to feed the poorer end of town.
When my dad was courting my mum, he would ride his bicycle to her place, and always turn up with a couple of pair of bunnies. He would then shoot another couple of pair on the way back home. Always kept the cook happy.
Wild rabbit is better than domesticated rabbit. $20 for a wild rabbit is rediculous thougj
While on a deployment to Tasmania in 1976 I had an opportunity to visit a farm on the north end of the island. While there the farmer was shooting rabbits at night. He sold the pelts in town and the meat was also taken to town and sold to shops where it was later consumed by diners.
Wild Rabbits are sold in numerous (not all) Australian supermarkets and by many independent butchers. How do I know this? Because I and many other licensed operators supply them with wild caught Rabbits. You can also get wild goat (rangeland Goat), Deer, Buffalo , pork all harvested from the wild.
Sounds like rabbit should be a local main stay. Possibly large traps then make dog food for export.
@@douglaspefferd.c.2988 Rabbit is a delicatesse here in mid-Europe, seems like a waste to give it to dogs. It is actually surprisingly versatile and there are a lot of traditional recipes for it, so far I prepared it Greek style as a Stifado, Italian style as a white ragout served as a pasta sauce and Bohemian style with cabbage and dumplings.
We used to have squirrel and gravy with eggs for brekfast.We had rabbit and potatoes with some veggies for supper.
0:47 Wait, you’re telling me that out of all of hundreds of Australia’s dangerous species, cute little bunnies don’t have predators to keep them in check?
Sounds like absolute BS
@@BitoshiNakanoti only foxes and wild cats mainly ,but the foxes are shot at night using spot lights ,because they kill to many newborn lambs.
They can retreat into their burrows and are generally evasive, making them hard prey to catch.
catch them with traps...@@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana
No one thought that releasing viruses could be a bad idea?
Bad karma.,
You should do a video on the introduction of the cane toad into Australia...another disaster...
Give Australians the right to own guns and watch the numbers decline..
I remember seeing rabbit for sale in the grocery store where my mother shopped in the 1950s in Michigan. They also had brains, tongue, tripe (cow's stomach), kidneys etc. This was a normal grocery store in a "middle class" area.
They still sell rabbit here in PA sometimes.in the local grocery store.
I have lived in many places in the US, you would be amazed what kind of off the wall stuff is still for sale in stores in different areas. And sweet Jesus, don't go to an international or Asian market! There is still one jar of eyeballs I had nightmares about. LOL
What's strange about that? It's still like that in South Africa.
Seen rabbit for sale at supermarkets in Miami. Supermarkets tend to cater to the community it serves.
@@hopscotch30 Perhaps she believe that Michigan resides in Australia !!! LOL
News, my Uncle made a living off the sale of Rabbits, he’s now passed. He had a “circuit” catching rabbits, chilling or freezing them and delivering them to butchers and restaurants, but the ever decreasing price of chicken drove him out of business. In the Great Depression the Rabbit got the name of “Underground Mutton”. The anti rabbit measures have been so successful that hat makers now import rabbit fur to make felt.
Before the release of the anti-rabbit viruses, rabbits used to be an important food source, especially in country areas and were often called 'underground mutton'. Kangaroo meat is available for human consumption but it isn't popular and generally isn't easily available. Other types of meat that perhaps should be available are camel, emu and even corcodile.
Virus is safe for humans, but, 1080 and pindone are used because rabbits developed resistance.
These poisons are real danger.
May be captured rabbit should be kept alive for few days, and if no any illness sympthoms develop, it can be eaten.
@Ksiezniczkajesttutaj emus are not protected, it's even legal to poison them with strychnine in water, which also kills a lot of kangaroo.
Of course, if they are problem for agriculture, better to shoot or trap them and eat them, and also eat their eggs.
But, farmers are so greedy.
Wild camels are feral in Australia, you can shoot them no problems. Dont know why you would think otherwise ...
Got that wrong. crocks and snakes are protected, camels are feral and can be shot any time. @Ksiezniczkajesttutaj
Yep, as a kid my Dad lived on mutton and underground mutton ( rabbits ) !
Sounds like a covid story for rabbits!
That's because the gov treats us as pests
@@SHANEO144 Very true!
the main reason the big stores don't sell wild rabbits is that they are afraid that if someone gets sick are lawsuits but with careful inspections and the proper cooking/storing methods there should not be any problems. we have the same problem with wild game here in NS Canada
The wild cottontail rabbits of the us are excellent eating. The problem here is hunters losing access to good hunting grounds because of urban and suburban sprawl.......safety zones have taken a lot land use away over the years. This is also the reason for the over-population of deer and wild turkey in many areas. It also leads to increase in coyote numbers in close proximity to people due to the abundance of prey.
Late reply, but I find it bemusing that the “oh, what a cute little bunny, we can‘t harm them” folks have resulted in houses encroaching coyote and so-called wildlife territory, resulting in coyotes attacking dogs and cats. Environmentalism is about saving the environment, not disrupting it because you like little bunnies (and put out every fire in a forest, but that’s another topic!).
@@advancetotabletop5328 What's the alternative though? The vast majority of fires are caused by humans, and due to extensive logging trees are not mature enough to survive them.
In Quebec we do go hare hunting but it is a side game (rabbits and hares are different). The most popular small game beside migratory birds is grouse because hares are very difficult to see. But if we happen to see a hare, it is a plus. The best time to hunt them is after the first snow. The snow melts and hares are white on dark ground so they are very easy to spot. At that time, for some reasons they get out, jump allover the place during the day as if it is meant that way to be harvested...
In Denmark a wild rabbit is traditionally put in buttermilk for 24 hours before cooking. The buttermilk softens the meat, and the taste is amazing.
Sadly this reminds me of the worlds “so called” overpopulation and what the evil elitist are doing to us 😢
I grew up eating wild rabbit, when the government released the calicivirus that was pretty much the end of that. The poorist people like my family were already paranoid about myxomatosis but didn't really have much of a choice when it came to the meat they could put on the table, if it wasn't ground offal that's basicly dog food and tastes even worst, the odd rooster or hen that stopped laying, it was rabbit we trapped or shot. The whole thing was just one big ''screw you dirt farmer, go hungry'' from the government.
03:08 "Wild rabbit meat is tough and of no culinary value"...with 1000s of wild rabbits under my belt I sound a hearty cry of BULLSH1T on this one!!
Rabbit is a great source of protein. It is also delicious and a staple in many European cuisines like Italian, French, German/ Central European, Spanish ... everywhere. And it is profitable. Rabbits as we were informed , breed like rabbits, they are easy to raise, mature fast and need no special equipment. I love rabbit. Wish we had more of it in N. American. Or even ... any.
Terrible source of fat though, you can't actually survive off of rabbit meat alone.
@@Sue_Me_Too Well, eat some pork too , olive oil, chicken thighs, ... one cannot live by rabbit alone. No processed sugars.
@@Sue_Me_Too people have died trying
@@JOEFABULOUS. There's a phrase: "rabbit starvation"
Here in the phils. There are plenty of rabbit brreders, but lack of market.. I have a lots of rabbit, there meat is more healthy than chicken and pork..
Back in the 1980s my grandfather used to trap wild rabbits to sell to local shops.
More recently, my local supermarket, one of the two major national chains, used to sell whole rabbit carcasses (and camel for a short period) until about a year ago. It was expensive, though, at about AUD$18 each.
They are ridiculously expensive all things considered.
In my Airforce days, late 1970s, the chowhall at Tyndall AFB, Fl. served fried rabbit a few times a week. I loved it.
I also grew up going squirrel hunting with Dad, so yeah, we ate Tree Rats. Good eating! We ate some animals that later became protected species. Great Woodpecker, Robins and Gopher Tortoise were my favorites. But cannot hunt them now.
My father ate "Underground Mutton" when he was a kid (1940's) it was a staple.
But as for the viruses they released on the mainland,
They didn't release the virus in Tasmania.
That is where most of Rabbit meat comes from in Australia.
When I done my butchers apprenticeship (1980's) bunny's were 99c each.
Today it's more like $40+ each..
high cost！it is good business to hunting the dumb bunny for selling .😀
@@jiezhao8779 nice....
When I was a child in England in the early '50s, some restaurants would try to pass off rabbit as chicken (then an expensive delicacy). I enjoyed rabbit pie and regret that in California I can only get hold of frozen Chinese rabbit occasionally and it is rather lacking in flavour.
I am from the uk. A pub near where l use to work made their own rabbit pies from rabbits hunted locally. With nice mashed potato,gravy and a nice pint of ale it was a perfect combination.
California has rabbit hunting opportunities.
go to an actual butcher shop and ask
Don't eat anything from China-it is so unsafe. Search on youtube for videos on why food in China is toxic and you will see what I mean.
Buy some live rabbits, then slaughter qnd butcher them yourself
In the South and I even hear Yankees though I don't know much about those people hunt and eat squirrels.
As an Australian local , it's very good.
We have alot of Camels too..
Wow I didn't even know y'all had camels. Y'all have so much wild life
@@madlova2023 Invasive wild life, camels dont live in Australia naturally.
@@madlova2023 we export them back to the middle east because we have more
This is what happens when you don’t grow up with Buggs Bunny cartoons.
but we did
Wild rabbit meat was very popular here in Northern Ireland then its popularity start to fall from the 50s and basically nearly untouched in the 80s due to myxomatosis was released on the rabbit population they have now built immunity and numbers are growing and rabbit is slowly becoming popular again. Hunters is selling them to butchers hotels and so on and a lot of people who go to the gym is buying rabbit meat here due to them being a lean meat
I can't help but wonder where you got your facts and who's checking them.
What do you think is wrong about this?
@@tanyaroberson9629 Australia isn't even real
@@357SWAGNUM_MAGA_X Is New Zealand real?
What even are rabbits
I grew up eating wild rabbit. Nothing really wrong with them, as long as they don't have worms etc. If you cook them with bacon strips that adds a bit of fat and makes them even more tasty. There aren't the thousands of rabbits everywhere like there were when I was a kid.
Fun fact: The 'Rabbit Proof Fence' was/is the longest fence in the world. Very run down now though and full of gaps.
How did you check for worms and how did you feel after eating a rabbit with worms?
BUILD THE FENCE!
"The rabbits didn't have natural enemies in Australia."
Aight Aussies the gig is up. You don't actually have a bunch of murder snakes and spiders. You were just trying to scare us.
We were wondering when you guys would figure it out. Well it was nice while it lasted
Don't forget about the dingos. 🐺
snakes don't eat much.
Like wild pigs in Texas. There are millions of them. You can sometimes see them out grazing along the freeways of major cities - all sizes, all colors, including spotted. Some weigh hundreds of pounds.The other day, I was driving on a freeway and saw a group of about twenty grazing along the freeway grass. I immediately slowed down because I didn't know if one might dart out onto the freeway like a deer. However, they are intelligent and seem to avoid traffic. Except for humans, and maybe coyotes for smaller ones, they seem to have no natural predators.
BBQ everyday! why pay for meat when you can supply yourself every weekend lol
@@jinbiaoma4808 No one should be hungry in Texas. Even the city bayous and drainage ditches have giant fish. But you would have to be hungry to eat giant carps and gars.
Wild pigs? Texas is so lucky. That's like free pork.
@@walden6272 Yes, but unfortunately I'm a vegetarian. People actually come other states to hunt them.
I heard the wild pigs are a big pest problem in Texas. Is the local government trying to develop an export market for the meat, like Australia did for the Kangaroo? Wild Boar steak is my go to for Bbq in the summer in Canada.
I live in the southern US. Here we have 2 species of wild rabbit, cottontails(small) and swamp rabbits(big). Here they are considered a nice bonus when hunting. Some raise beagles just for rabbit hunting. In the south, wild game and fish are part of the culture except in the inner cities. We also have many immigrant ancestors that added their own flavor and cooking methods. You kill we will eat it.
Bring in Tasmanian Devils take care of wascally wabbits.
Underrated 😂
I have never understood why they haven't produced a devastating disease for rats.
Bad idea, might pass onto humans since rats are everywhere. Could mutate to something worse than Covid
I think in Europe the brown rat was introduced to replace or push away the black rat that was a host to a lot of diseases.
I love wild rabbit, use to eat quite a few of them. Before the coyotes took over, our Deer, Turkey, Quail and Rabbit populations have Tanked due to those killing machine pest. Of course wild is tougher, but it's also 100% natural, it's nothing a pot of boiling water can't solve.
Plenty of Aussies eat rabbit regularly. My family eats wild rabbit 3-4 times a week, caught with ferrets and dogs.
Wild rabbits are yummy. Like venison. I used to eat them while I was living in Europe. Now I live in Australia but I have never seen rabbit meat in a supermarket. You can easily get kangaroo meat, however, and it tastes also like venison.
Rabbit meat use to be a popular food during the early and mid part of the 20th century, particularly during the Great Depression. In fact, the "rabbitoh" (a man who walked around city and suburban streets calling "rabbitoh" to announce that he had fresh rabbits for sale) was said to have been a fairly common part of everyday city life. In the 1960s and 70's I grew up in a country town and it was still a common part of country life for men, young men in particular, to go out into the bush to shoot rabbits for the pot or maybe to sell. This was part of the ritual of growing up and male coming of age. These would be brought home, skinned and cooked by "mum". Somehow as Australia became more wealthy, and urban, the eating of rabbit was more or less abandoned to a significant extent.
There are several reasons for this I think. The first is that it was seen as "depression era food". Which to some extent it was. It was therefore not associated with high cuisine as people's tastes changed to more exotic fare and of course to commercialized and fast food etc. After WW2, the huge influx of migrants from Europe where rabbits were nto common as food did not help. Shopping at supermarkets did not help either as rabbits are not the kind of rapid turnover or long shelf-life items they like to stock. Another reason was that when rabbits became endemic and huge numbers of them infested the countryside, attempts were made by the government to control them by introducing various biological agents. Myxomatosis, a type of pox virus was one such disease and it helped create the association in peoples' minds between rabbits and disease. Simply put they became thought of as a bit edgy and maybe even dangerous to eat so instead they were relegated to pet food. People still did eat rabbit occasionally and it is still sometimes seen in upmarket butchers' shop windows but the rabbits are almost invariably sold, not as wild game, but as "farm raised" and are accordingly expensive. You would have to REALLY want a rabbit if you bought one of these. Another reason for rabbit being less than popular is that rabbit is very tough and stringy unless properly cooked. It has little fat (which is good for health but bad for taste) and requires very specific cooking techniques to turn it into a successful meal. I imagine people mostly would "joint" the rabbit into small morsels and stew it slowly in a pot with vegetables and herbs, which could make it palatable - maybe even delicious. But in families today with both parents working, few have the time or energy for this.
Even without the viruses I don't think rabbit meat would have been that particularly popular long term. Its just that when weighing their options, people with disposable incomes prefer steak, lamb, chicken and even kangaroo meat over rabbit. At least I do as I've never particularly liked rabbit meat and I don't consider myself a fussy eater.
Slow cooker is the best way to cook them. Tender and juicy
Rabbitooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!
For any dieters out there, rabbit meat is very low in fat. Cooked slowly over low heat, rabbit is tasty.
Rabbit is so low in fat that you have to add fat to proper macros.
Heaps of rabbits in parliament house
Let me guess. The bunny is another "introduced" species.
Yes they are
I’ve eaten plenty of rabbits. My father in law was a very keen ferreter. We used ferrets to drive the rabbits from burrows into nets for trapping. What’s being missed here is that without rabbits one of Australia’s greatest brands, Akubra, wouldn’t exist without rabbits. Their fur was used for the felt that makes the iconic Akubra hat.
The skins were boiled up to make rabbit skin glue an important ingredient in artists gesso. I once built a fortepiano and glued it together with rabbit glue ,it is very strong.
In Canada thay used to send a ferret down the rabbit hole and catch the rabbit and cook and eat them..I often hunted rabbits for food my dad. One time the ferret flushed out a skunk.
Rabbit meat is like chicken meat, very smooth.
9 rabbits go into every Slouch Hat for the ADF.
@@harryjackson4759 The rabbits were that thick we had to pull a couple out of the burrow before the ferret could fit in.
Wild rabbit meat is "tough and sinewy"? Spoken by someone who obviously never ate wild rabbit.
It used to be a thing to eat Rabbit in Australia,... The part of Australia that my brother lives in has a $10,000 fine if you trap a Rabbit.
Why?
@@peetiegonzalez1845 To protect the Native wildlife, Rabbit traps can catch other things, and to protect the public, the Rabbits are full of disease from the 1950 move, and the later move. Humans are more closely related to Rabbits than a Pig for example, and diseases can mutate and hop from Pigs to Humans. So it would be even easier with Rabbits.
deliberate
@@jonathancummings6400 hmmm I kinda get it but why not just shoot the rabbits?
@@peetiegonzalez1845 Too expensive. There are so many Rabbits that the guns would break from overuse and they would run out of bullets. Remember, the initial estimate was a population in the BILLIONS!!! To get them down to a manageable population would be forces like in WW2, like the Huge Russian Army on the Eastern front, all 34 million soldiers with the same relentless determination to kill Rabbits as they had fighting the Germans. It would take quite a while to take out most of the Rabbits.
I'm a retired policeman from Belgium. I've eaten wild and domesticated rabbits all my life. Up until 2000, there were plenty of rabbits around : later on, diseases killed most of them. When I had a night shift, we sometimes found some road kill rabbits : I took them home, butchered and cooked them (don't believe the video : wild rabbits are very good eating). There's one story from the golden rabbit years that I was reminded of at my retirement party : a certain policeman found a roadkill rabbit, tossed it in the car behind the driver's seat and forgot about it. They all said it was me, but I highly doubt that 😇
But these Australian rabbits has virus in them
You eat rabbits? Strange. What does it taste like?
Roast them and the virus is gone.
@@walden6272 I'm Egyptian and rabbits here are well known in our dishes and it tastes sooooo good, especially its gravy
@@walden6272 Pakistanis and Aghans eat rabbits like you guys eat chicken
'Why don't they eat wild rabbits in Australia?'
You can only eat so many of the buggers.
I think Elma Fudd could fill us in on the Wascalwyness of Wabbits.
Elmer
I farm my own rabbits on a home subsistence basis and would totally recommend the rabbit meat to anyone. If Australians can eat kangaroo, then surely wild rabbit pie would be popular.
" A pest is a resource not yet harvested" Bill Mollison, the wise Australian who gave the world Permaculture.
Re-read story.
'Why its just a little bunny! One rabbit stew coming right up '!
Women in the US are horrified if you say, "Hey, let's have rabbit for dinner" because they're so soft, cuddly & cute. To me, the taste is outstanding!
My mom fed me rabbit and told me it was fried chicken till after I was done. I was about 10. It had a slightly "weird/unfamiliar " taste but was still pretty good.
Rabbit is very tasty! Just don’t eat Thumper.
@NW Lady Laura : Lauren, I've eaten it several times, and yes, it is tasty. Problem is, most women are queasy about eating rabbits in the US. I used to go to a turkey farm outlet that also sold dressed & skinned rabbits.
Like other Ausies rabbit was on our dinner table. Nothing wrong with wild ones in 60s . I have eaten Goat also. Times were tough when I was a kid, but our mother could make a meal of almost anything. Pigs trotters, lamb brains, ox tail stew and dumplings. Young ones today don't know they are alive.
Oxtail soup is a delicacy…and it used to be cheap. Now they price is like prime steak if you can find it.
But those same mosquitos infected from rabbits, will also be infecting other livestock also, yet Australians eat that livestock, including Kangaroos. Go figure.
We don't eat rats, YET.
I think the Chinese eat rats ??
@@patrickf2671 there are lots of people who eat rats in poverty stricken countries. It's a rodent, so is a rabbit, and I'm partial to a bowl of rabbit stew. Not so sure about rat stew though.
@@bessiebraveheart I was made eat rabbit soup growing up in the countryside and I hated it but rabbit meat is very healthy
Whoa! Are you related to Beatles star Paul McCartney?
@@jonathancummings6400 Why.....?...Does he hate rabbit soup?
I've eaten lots of rabbits. To say they are tough and not good is BS. One of the best meats there is. Don't think this guy knows what he is talking about.
I've often wondered the same thing. You cleared that up nicely, thanks!
By the way...kangaroo meat is extremely lean, dense, fine-grained, and absolutely delicious!
rabbits were originally let go near Geelong in Victoria, they are well and truly eaten by many people, they are also sold in some butchers as well as back doors to some pubs, l cannot think of any problems that rabbits get from mosquitos as the usual problems are parasites such as fluke or tapeworms ect...
at home our favourite is Kentucky fried rabbit or rabbit stew, it is a good feed if you can cook
I bet the "Virus talk" is just to scare you so that you would buy commercial meat instead.
There are now 600,000,000 rabbits in Australia. Oh now there are 900,000,000 rabbits in Australia. Oh 1.3 billion rabbits in Australia
Just doing what rabbits do best.