Le site de vulgarisation scientifique de l’Université de Liège. ULg, Université de Liège

Man’s worst friend
1/10/12

Going into reverse

Australia, New Zealand and Chile remain the main countries where serious problems with the rabbit continue to exist, while everywhere else, the means deployed against it, combined with a deterioration of the landscape, seem to have got the better of it. While it could be found on the edge of any forest just after the Second World War, it now has a very uncertain future Europe: although in decline in the west and south of France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and even Great Britain, it remains a pest in other farming areas. “In the past 30 years, its populations have fallen by 70%, and even 90 % in some places”, says Catherine Mougenot. “In France and Spain, research has been financed to find a solution to the reintroduction of the species.” Because of its increasing scarcity, the rabbit accentuates the threat to certain predators that previously feasted on this animal and are now seriously endangered. Ironically, as a result of its extermination, the scarcity of the rabbit has raised it to the rank of national heritage in some regions.

According to some naturalists, the wild rabbit should indeed be protected. In an ever-evolving world, intensive farming, concentrations of farms and the cutting down of hedges will get the better of it… in the wild, of course, because the ones in industrial hutches, which end up in our plates, continue to increase and be deep frozen in somewhat questionable conditions!

Lapin1A rabbit in a hat

Just when the authors thought they had exhausted the subject, they were most surprised to discover other evermore incredible stories about Peter on the internet. “Because the rabbit always pops up where you least expect it”, smiles Lucienne Strivay. Like in this unintended 155-km rabbit warren between the two sections of the Berlin wall, or the plan to present a fluorescent rabbit at the Avignon arts festival in 2000, that had been genetically modified by elements extracted from jellyfish so that it would become fluorescent when placed under a UV lamp. Alba, the name of this doe, which died two years later for some obscure reason, caused a public outcry. Once again, the rabbit was caught between the absurdity of two contradictory poles: causing outrage because it had been genetically modified in the name of art despite the fact that its everyday use in laboratories has become commonplace.

“The rabbit always finds itself in paradoxical situations”, concludes Lucienne Strivay. “Domesticated yet still wild, and a stay-at-home that’s running around all over the world. In addition, it’s both a pet and a lab animal. It’s farmed for its meat but also for its fur, and it’s also a therapeutic animal. The rabbit’s modes of existence are as varied as they are heterogeneous”. In this work, the authors engage in a race-cum-chase with living beings, both human and non-human, who are continuously modifying the rules of an ever-changing game. This book was constructed “with only a beginning, but no middle or end, with numerous entries like an animal rhizome: it’s a burrow”.

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