This is interesting...

Haven't posted in a while. Just riding out a long, hot, wet, South Florida summer.
If all goes well, this fall we'll be breeding a few of the rabbits that were born to our original, purchased herd from last year. Kind of a milestone, I guess.
Will that make me a "bunny grandpa"? :?

Anyway... I thought this was interesting.
We visited there many years ago. It's an amazing place.

Bunnies were butchered at ancient city of Teotihuacan
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/08/22/bunnies-were-butchered-at-ancient-city-teotihuacan.html

Interesting article! Thanks for posting it, karebru.

Did you notice that the writer made it sound like raising rabbits for meat was not the same as raising larger livestock? You'd think there would be more awareness of the role domesticated rabbits played in feeding earlier civilizations. The ancient Romans raised rabbits for meat and introduced them to Britain. Yet, except perhaps in countries like France, the idea of eating rabbit meat is viewed as strange. Never seemed that way to me, but then I'm from a hunting family.

MaggieJ":1zqq3wd1 said:

Interesting article! Thanks for posting it, karebru.

Did you notice that the writer made it sound like raising rabbits for meat was not the same as raising larger livestock? You'd think there would be more awareness of the role domesticated rabbits played in feeding earlier civilizations. The ancient Romans raised rabbits for meat and introduced them to Britain. Yet, except perhaps in countries like France, the idea of eating rabbit meat is viewed as strange. Never seemed that way to me, but then I'm from a hunting family.

Click to expand...

Never really thought about it. Thanks! You've given me something rabbit related to do while we're waiting for cooler weather... Read up on the history of rabbit domestication.

There y'go!

I am by no means an expert on rabbit raising in times past, but I do know that until about 1900 (Beatrix Potter etc., not that I blame her!) rabbits were not high on the list of pet species.

How times have changed! :roll:

Not surprisingly, my husband's Italian relatives never seem to find rabbit raising the slightest bit odd.

Yup, raising rabbits for meat is definitely less unusual to Europeans. In Germany we have a couple of traditional dishes made almost exclusively with rabbit meat. But I've had a couple of friends here in the US look at me like I've sprouted a second head when I mention eating rabbit meat. :shock:

Growing up in the south, we have hunted all our life. My favorite is squirrel. Love squirrel dumplings. My wife however is not from the south and is still on the fence about eating them. That first recipe just has to be the right one. That will get her off it for sure. lol

Ummmm... yeah... I think DH likes to watch his family squirm when he talks about our rabbits :roll: . My MIL insists she could easily be a vegetarian if she thought hard enough about it (her dad raises cows for meat, and used to have pigs). She references Bambi quite often (although I will say she eats meat at nearly every meal so not sure how well it would go over in actuality). I love the Burgess books for my kids, but I also don't want to personify wild critters too much.

Rabbits and chicken were the main source of affordable meat during, and after WW2, in that rural, at that time quite poor area in eastern Austria where I come from. My grandparents had them most of their live, and also my parents had rabbits for some time. No one considered them as pets, they were meat.

That isn't something ancient, when I grew up it was still a normal part of live, grandmas breaded rabbit was a quite frequent sunday dish.

Even now, in my street we are 3 breeders, we all have rabbits for meat, one does pets too, but pets are still a minority in rural areas.

It does seem like a controversial topic where I live too. Even though my area is rural there are a lot of people that I have encountered that think it's weird to raise rabbits for meat. Although to be honest the same people think its weird to raise any animal with the intention of eating it.

Preitler":3t7fqg4z said:

Rabbits and chicken were the main source of affordable meat during, and after WW2, in that rural, at that time quite poor area in eastern Austria where I come from. My grandparents had them most of their live, and also my parents had rabbits for some time. No one considered them as pets, they were meat.

That isn't something ancient, when I grew up it was still a normal part of live, grandmas breaded rabbit was a quite frequent sunday dish.

Even now, in my street we are 3 breeders, we all have rabbits for meat, one does pets too, but pets are still a minority in rural areas.

Click to expand...

I was raised in a big mormon family, we had 9 kids, we were poor, i was the oldest, it was my job to provide the meat, I have raised rabbits since I was 6 [or so] I never knew eating rabbits was controversial until i was an adult.

My dad went through WWII the hard way; basically a nomad in his homeland of Germany with his mother and sister. They would sneak into fields at night and try to find usuable crops for food. Sometimes they were shot at by the farmer. He also told of eating boiled dandelion for meals and wished he could have just had some salt and pepper for it. Once, they found a dead cow in a bombed out barn and tried to cut away the rotten meat in hopes that some usuable meat could be found under it. Another time, he chased a cat that was carrying a piece of molded bread. He said that if he caught it, he wasn't sure if he would have eaten the cat or the bread first.
All of this to say simply, that most of America has it too good. It's really pathetic that there are those who look down on raising rabbits or any other animal for meat. It's scary to watch the animal rights movement advancing through our culture. It's quickly turning into an animal worship movement. I can foresee the time coming when people will not be allowed to slaughter animals at home. I've said it before, what this country needs is a good famine. Hunger will change a lot of minds.