Rhosgobel Rabbits

The Hobbit is now out in theatres and it is an amazing movie! A little long if you are not a tolkien lover, because they split the story into three movies. But if you are like me and always wanted more out of the Lord of the Rings movies, you will love this one!

The_Hobbit

This post comes with a little spoiler alert if you have not seen any of the trailers for the movie, or the movie itself.

Here is a trailer if you would like to see:

Radagast the Brown, a wizard like Gandalf, has a small part in the movie! He is merely referenced in the Hobbit, and has return appearance in LOTR (not in the movie version). Radagast’s job was to take care of nature. I am not too fond of the make up job that he has in the movie (mainly the bird poop running down his face).

radagast2

(image found here)

But in the trailer you get a glimpse of something not mentioned in the books, but is a wonderful and fitting addition to Radagast’s character: a sled pulled by giant rabbits!

Here are some screen shots:

image save1

(screen capture found here)

screen shot2

(screen capture found at theonering.com)

They are adorable giant rabbits, and are very fast in the film. In the movie Radagast refers to the rabbits and being outrun by wargs: “These are Rhosgobel Rabbits. I’d like to see them try!”

Rhosgobel is the name of the place where Radagast lives – so it is fitting to refer to the rabbits as being from there. His home is described as being fenced in, and lying on the western edge of Mirkwood. You can read a bit more about Rhosgobel at tolkiengateway.net.

I will update this post once better pictures of the rabbits come out.

Champis – The Herding Rabbit

Have you ever seen a rabbit heard sheep?  I had not until I discovered the video of Champis – a little bunny from where I believe is Gardsbacken, Finland.

This little bunny is truly awesome and a great display of rabbit intelligence.

Champis  with his favorite chicken:

Champis outside the sheep pen

Champis watching the sheep outside

You can read more about this little bunny on the Gardsbacken blog. If you search “Champis” in the upper right you will find all the article about him, a couple are in English but the rest can be read through the use of Google translate.

University of Victoria Bunnies

So today I happened upon an article on boing boing that explained there are thousands of rabbits at British Columbia’s University of Victoria.

Apparently the number of bunnies is due to people abandoning their unwanted pets on the campus and their numbers have simply grown over time due to breeding, continual abandonment, and people feeding them. These rabbits are now ferral, and are not pets.

The campus has launched a public awareness campaign in an effort to protect the rabbits, people, and the environment. Having so many rabbits in one place is a stress to local plant life and can cause health problems for people. The goal is to stop people from continuing to abandon pet rabbits on campus, stop people from feeding the bunnies, and to prevent animal cruelty.

To read more about the rabbits on campus and what they are trying to do to help both people and the rabbits, visit Rabbits @ UVic.

Here is a video of a man feeding the bunnies that shows their interest in people, and an idea of their numbers:

Here are a couple of photos:

Photos from theglobeandmail.com: by Deddeda Stemler.