LONDON – It seems like a case made especially for Sherlock Holmes, Poirot and Miss Marple. Or perhaps for Rudy and Anita, the unforgettable couple from the cartoon “The 101 Dalmatians”, who thanks to the intervention of dogs and horses recover the delightful Dalmatian puppies of which Cruella Demon would like to make a fur coat. But here we are not in a detective story or a cartoon. We are in Worcestershire, a county in central England, where someone has stolen the largest rabbit in the world.
Darius, the victim in question, 129 centimeters long, was taken out of his cage in the garden of a house in the village of Stoulton. In 2010 it had entered the Guinness World Record, the book that certifies records of all kinds, due to its exceptional size. “It’s a very sad day,” he told al Guardian its owner, Annette Edwards, offering a reward of 1,000 pounds (more than 1,100 euros) for the find. “Please bring it back to us,” he wrote on Twitter, saying it is too old to be used for breeding.
Longest rabbit in the world kidnapped. The mistress, former Playboy model: “1000 pounds to whoever finds it”
His comment suggests that the suspicions are oriented towards animal breeders, a circle that often borders on the illicit and does not hesitate to resort to theft to obtain the most valuable specimens. Darius, in fact, is a rarity: a record-breaking giant continental rabbit, which could in theory become a good business for anyone hoping to reproduce similar offspring. But of course other hypotheses cannot be excluded a priori. Mrs. Edwards may have enemies who intended to take revenge on her by striking her in her most precious possession. It’s also possible that someone just wanted to play a joke on her in bad taste. Or that unknown persons thought they could easily procure a ransom. Not to mention the most horrible hypothesis: that the thieves wanted to put it in the pot.
Whatever the case, law enforcement took the matter seriously. “We appeal to information about the theft of a prized rabbit from a home in Stoulton, County Worcester,” a local police statement announced. “It is assumed that he was stolen from his cage in the owners’ garden on the night of Saturday 11 April.” The agents left a phone number to call for anyone with useful information for the investigation.
It would be nice if the dogs of the surrounding countryside, barking from one yard to another, would sound the alarm and start the hunt for thieves, as happens in the search for Pongo and Peggy puppies in the “101 Dalmatians”. But life isn’t a Disney cartoon and doesn’t always guarantee a happy ending.
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