Horrors! Monster Rabbit Devours English Allotment Garden VeggiePlots

**A*@aol.com**

Friends,

Apropos of our discussion a few weeks ago,  you can't make this stuff up.

Cheers,
Adam Honigman
Bigs bunny: monster  rabbit devours English veggie plots

Fri Apr 7, 11:21 AM ET

In a tale reminiscent of the last Wallace and Gromit movie, furious villagers
 in northeast England have hired armed guards to protect their beloved
communal  vegetable gardens from a suspected monster rabbit.
Leeks, Japanese onions, parsnips and spring carrots have all been ripped up
and devoured by the mystery were-rabbit -- prompting the 12 allotment holders
in  Felton, north of Newcastle, to hire two marksmen with air rifles and
orders to  shoot to kill.
"It is a massive thing. It is a monster. The first time I saw it, I said:
'What the hell is that?'" the Northumberland Gazette newspaper quoted local
resident Jeff Smith, 63, as saying on its website
(www.northumberlandtoday.co.uk).
He claims to have seen the black and brown rabbit -- with one ear bigger than
 the other -- about two months ago, and at least three fellow allotment
holders  say they have seen it as well.
"I have seen it and it is bigger than a normal rabbit. It's eating all our
crops and we grow the best stuff here," said retired miner George Brown, 76,
quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency.
Smith could not be reached for comment Friday, but his mother told AFP that
the hare-raising story is true -- and no less an authority than the British
Rabbit Council said it was credible.
"Certain breeds do grow very big, like the Continental Giant" which can be 66
 centimetres (26 inches) in length or more, a spokesman for the
Nottinghamshire-based council, which represent rabbit breeders, told AFP.
In the last hit movie featuring Wallace and his dog Gromit, the two cartoon
characters battled a monster rabbit that was cutting a swathe of destruction
through locals' prize vegetable plots.

Copyright ) 2006 _Agence  France Presse_
(http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/afp/SIG=122dhv7qk/**http://www.afp.com/engl
ish/links/?pid=copyright) . All
rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP  News report may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without  the prior written
authority of Agence France Presse.

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