While researching early modes of rabbit keeping on February 2, 2003, I came across a tidbit of information that caught my fancy. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became, as this remarkable story unfolded before my eyes. Be prepared to take a remarkable journey of hope, survival, fortitude, lifesaving, rescue, destruction and preservation. This story is like no other in the world of domestic rabbits.

On August 18, 1806, Captain Abraham Bristow, of the 401 ton whaler OCEAN discovered the Auckland Islands some 390 miles south of New Zealand and called one of the islands Enderby. Whales were plentiful in the waters that surrounded the Auckland's and the shores would prove to be rich with sea lions. Sealing activity would reach a peak in 1822 and by 1830 the seals were almost extinct.

Rabbits were first introduced to Enderby Island, the northern most island of the Auckland Island chain by Captain James Ross of the HMS EREBUS and HMS TERROR expedition in November 1840. In October, 1842 the ship HANNAH brought Maori natives, plus flax from the Chatham Islands. The party of 30 Maori under Chief Maori along with 30 Moriori slaves, would settle on Enderby Island. Sir Charles Ross, a noted Antarctic explorer, suggested to Charles Enderby of London, that a whaling station be established on the island. In December 1849, 150 British settlers would arrive at Port Ross, brought by the ships SAMUEL ENDERBY, the BRISK and the FANCY. The South Seas Whale Fishery Company was given a royal charter, with funding by the British Government to ship whale oil back to light the streets of London. The settlement would become a total flop and was disbanded in August 1852, just 2 years, 9 months old. It would go down in the history books as the shortest lived British colony. The Maori and Moriori natives would leave the island in 1854, having eaten, all man introduced animals.

Shipwrecks were abundant in the rough and dangerous waters surrounding these six volcanic islands called Auckland. Castaways would attempt to survive for weeks and months, in hopes of a rescue ship finding them. Back in Australia, the Acclimatization Society of Victoria was formed in 1861, with the aim of introducing exotic plants and animals to suitable parts of the colony and to procure animals from Great Britain and other countries. Shortly after the organization was founded, a gift of 4 silver-grey rabbits were presented to the Society in 1864.

In a letter dated 3 October, 1865 Jas. G. Francis, Commissioner of Trade and Customs advised Commander William Henry Norman, of the H.M.C.S. VICTORIA I to search the Auckland Islands for possible persons in distress and "With the view of making provisions, to a certain extent, for any persons who may hereafter be wrecked or in distress upon these islands, the Acclimatization Society have put on board a number of animals, which will be good enough to let loose on the island." There would be 12 rabbits on board ship that set sail Wednesday, October 4, 1865. It is here that I must mention, through a complete chance of luck I was able to locate Mrs. Margaret Levin, of Queensland, Australia who is the great-great-granddaughter of Com. Norman. She became fascinated with my research project and has provided pictures of the ship, the commander, her crew and best of all, copies of the journal and log books of this historic voyage. It should be noted that Margaret was also a rabbit breeder while living in Victoria.

From Com. Norman's Journals. "Saturday, 14th. - No traces of pigs or other animals being observed near here; landed four goats, sent by the Acclimatization Society. Some small patches of English grass growing about the old settlement. Later in the day, one of the men reported having seen a dog. This deterred me from landing some rabbits and fowls as I had intended." There is an error in his journal as he writes Monday, 18th and this would have actually be Wednesday, 18th "At 4:30 a.m. started for Enderby Island, and anchored in the sandy bay referred to yesterday, at 5 a.m. Sent on shore ten goats and twelve rabbits; these at once took to the English grass, on which I have no doubt they will thrive well. Weighed again at 7:30 a.m., and steamed slowly round the island." The H.M.S.C. VICTORIA I returned to its home port, Hobson's Bay, at 1:30 p.m. Monday, November 27, 1865, having found no castaways.

Enderby Island is 1,700 acres in size, cold, windy, rather wet and with high humidity, just a really harsh environment, however it is considered by many to be the most beautiful of the seven island chain. Except for the coastal cliffs and rocks, along with a few acres of sand hills, short and twisted rata forest, the island is pretty much covered with a dense blanket of peat. The 12 rabbits would thrive and multiply, burrowing into the sandy hillsides and dry peat. In 1867, the survivors of the GENERAL GRANT caught many rabbits, as did the survivors of the DERRY CASTLE in March of 1887.

During the next 100 years, the rabbits of Enderby would be up and down in population. In 1874, H.M.S. BLANCHE found the island "over-run with black rabbits". 1886 in a report to the Royal Society of Victoria it was reported that the rabbits were fast dying out or rather starved out, having eaten most all the grass and reverting to thickly set mossy plants. By 1894 the HINEMOA reported "rabbits swarm, and greatly reduce the value of the pasturage...one of the party shot over twenty in the course of short excursion. 25 head of cattle and many rabbits were reported by Oliver in 1927. In 1932 the pastoral lease of the island ended and in 1934 the New Zealand (NZ) government made the island a reserve for the preservation of all native flora and fauna.

The NZ National Parks and Reserves Authority approved the Auckland Island Management Plan on January 12, 1987 to eliminate all man introduced animals from the islands. A study by B.W. Glentworth in 1991, showed a rabbit population of between 5,000 to 6,000 rabbits. Rabbits were destroying the native vegetation at an alarming rate and playing havoc with the threaten Hooker sea lion's pup population. The numerous rabbit burrows along Sandy Bay, is an important breeding ground for this sea lion species, and the pups would become trapped in the burrows and die. Of special interest, was a film produced of the wildlife of Enderby Island in 1982 by Natural History New Zealand, which is part of the Fox Television Studios Company. This film is wonderful production, showing the rabbits running about the island along with the cattle and other wildlife.

The Canterbury Chapter of the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of NZ (RBCSNZ), having heard of the rabbit's eradication plan, began setting up a project to rescue a breeding population of the Enderby Island Rabbit through the dedicated efforts of Mrs. Catreona Kelly as Project Manager. Michael Willis and Dr. Dave Matheson, D.V.M. of the Rare Breeds Society along with Wayne Costello (expedition leader) and Trevor Tidy from the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) The members of the DOC team's objective was to determine the suitability of various baits and to determine the acceptance rate of one particular bait type. All would travel on board the NZ naval diving tender ship HMV MANAWANUI, arriving on Enderby on Tuesday 15, September, 1992 at 11:30 p.m.. A permit was secured to trap 50 rabbits in just a very few days. Various modes of trapping were used, baffle traps and funnel nets at the warren entrances, soft-jaw leg hold traps, proved to be of little use, but 200 meters of wing netting would be the most successful. Rabbits would be trapped from four locations, which were given warren names; Enderby, Stella, Rata and Base. By September 19th, 50 rabbits had been captured, 14 does (females) and 36 bucks (males). The numbers from the various warren locations are as follows; Rata - 3 bucks, 4 does, Stella - 2 bucks only, Base - 6 bucks, 1 doe and Enderby Warren - 25 bucks with 8 does. Dive teams ferried the rabbits on inflatable Zodiacs in round cages back to the main ship in rather difficult swell conditions. Of special note, it was during this recovery, that the last two surviving members of the Enderby Island cattle breed were discovered. The cow, named Lady and her calf, which soon died, would make world history, as Lady is the largest mammal ever cloned, first cow cloned, that cloned has calved and the first attempt at cloning, to save a rare breed. You might ask, how can you have a cow and calf with no bull? Well the DOC a few months prior shot all known Enderby Island cattle and collected semen from 16 of the bulls. I do not know their logic there! It should also be noted that the 50 rabbits which were liberated from Enderby Island left from Sandy Bay, which is the same location from which the original 12 rabbits arrived. The 49 rabbits (one died of a back injury) would arrive at Somes Island in Wellington Harbor on September 25th at 6 p.m. to begin a one month quarantine period, which ended on October 28, 1992. There would be 3 kits (young) born during this period. Each rabbit was carefully inspected, handled, identified with an ear tag and given a permanent tattoo. Rabbits were split into three different destination groups, one for Wairarapa, another for New Plymouth and the rest for Christchurch. All rabbits born were carefully recorded in the stud book by Mrs. Kelly. The rabbits were the property of the DOC, however ten dedicated caregivers would be entrusted with the rabbits, under contract, with the RBCSNZ. In a new contract datedOctober 19, 1994 the DOC vested the ownership of the rabbits to the RBCSNZ and in 1998 private ownership of the Enderby Island rabbits would begin, as the numbers of rabbits increased.

The eradication program took place from February 9 thru May 8, 1993 with a team of four people and a specially trained rabbit tracking dog named Boss. February 14th Lady and her calf were caught within 15 minutes using a helicopter and a net gun fired from the chopper. The cow and calf along with the Rare Breeds team would leave the island on the 15th of February on the Marine COUNTESS. The rabbits would be killed with a green dyed cereal pellet containing Brodifacoum, which was sowed using a helicopter under the capable hands of Pilot Allan Bond. February 15th the chopper would drop no less than 5 tons of bait in just 5 hours. On the 19th, the first dead rabbits were found, by the 21st, dead rabbits were seen every where on the island. The last Enderby Island rabbit would be shot and killed on April 12, 1993, thus ending a 127 year period of natural selection.

Through the determined and dedicated efforts to keep the breed alive Sitereh and Chris Schouten of Nature's Pace near Christchurch, the Enderby Island rabbit was given breed status by the Rabbit Council of New Zealand in April, 2002, when it was accepted into their book of Standards.

Enderby Island rabbits are the world's rarest breed of rabbit, with less than 100 animals in existence. Most are black, there are but 7 known cream colored ones and even fewer blues. The breed evolved from the English Silver Greys, and not the Champagne de Argente as previously reported in various papers and scientific journals. This author has been a collector of old rabbit books for 30 years. In my research some of the earliest works state that the Silver came from Siam and brought to England by traders, other works say that Silver Greys existed thousands of years ago in India and were brought to Europe by Portuguese sailors early in the 17th century. Gervase Markham, in 1631 wrote that rabbits with silver tips to their hairs were being kept in the warrens of England. It is well documented that Silver appeared in the warrens of Lincolnshire, England amongst wild rabbits and were known as Sprigs, Millers, Lincolnshire Silver Greys, Chinchilla Silver Grey, Riche and more simply put Silver Greys. The breed was first shown in England in 1860. A buff colored Silver Grey doe took first honors at the Crystal Palace Poultry Show in the "Foreign Class" in 1863. Mature weight at the time was 6 to 9 pounds. Thousands of them were being raised in the warrens of the 1850s for table purposes in the larger cities, and the skins were bought up for exportation to Russia and China. The first English breed standard was established in 1880. The Champagne de Argente was not introduced into Britain until 1920 and weighed a hefty 9 to 11 pounds. The Champagne, was not recognized as a breed in France until 1921, when it was admitted to their breed Standards.

English breeders have perfected the silver breed to have an even silvering over the entire body, including the head, ears, feet and tail. The fur is sleek, with a fly back coat. In one of my early books, Manuals For The Many The Rabbit Book, circa 1855 which I have just acquired, there is a wood engraving that screams Enderby Island Rabbit. I quote, "The head and ears are nearly all black with a few white hairs. These white hairs are more numerous on the neck, shoulders, and back; but on all the lower parts, such as the chest or belly, the number of white hairs is greater than those of a blue or black colour."

Today's Enderby Island rabbits are small at 3 to 3.5 lbs., fine in bone, narrow in body, eyes very bold, head is a perfect "V" laid on its side and the head appears quite small for the body. Ears are fine and carried in a "V". The body is rather heavily silvered in most animals, with about 80% silvering. The extremities, i.e., the head, ears, feet and tail are much darker and only lightly silvered, with a pronounced butterfly marking on the nose. The coat is unlike the Silver breed, being more open, longer and soft in texture. The youngsters can be rather slow to silver in some cases, and may require 6 to 8 months to complete the cycle. Adults become more silvered over the years. Litters are rather small with 2, 3 and 4 kits, with a record being 8. Genetically, it is the PUREST breed of domestic rabbit in the world and the ONLY breed that has evolved without the touch of man. It was simply created by nature. So there you have a VERY condensed version of a remarkable story, some 250 plus generations, of natural selection during a course of 127 years of near total isolation on a sub-antarctic island called Enderby, where a nucleus of 12 rabbits would evolve to become their own breed called Enderby Island.

I would like to thank Sitereh Schouten and husband Chris, for providing me with 7 Enderby Island rabbits, their encouragement in my research efforts, and a great friendship has been forged through the internet and telephone. Lorne and Pamela Kuehn, for providing a trio of Enderby Island rabbits. Beverley McCulloch and Michael Trotter Website Monitors and Editors for the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand, for their encouragement in my research and putting me in touch with Enderby Island rabbit breeders. Mrs. Margaret Levin, for providing the Journals and Log Books of Commander Norman, pictures of the H.M.S.C. VICTORIA and her crew. Nick Torr, for his scientific report on the eradication of rabbits on Enderby Island. Wayne Costello, for photographs and time lines of the rabbit's liberation and eradication from Enderby Island. Various libraries and government agencies for historical documents, photos and steering me to the appropriate sources. Dr. Karen Nicoll, D.V.M. for the photos of Lady the cow, her son Darby, Clones and calf. Dr. Roger Perkins, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Station (APHIS) for giving the US clearance for the shipment of 10 Enderby Island rabbits to be export to America. And last but not lest, the Canterbury Chapter of the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand for saving the Enderby Island rabbit from extinction.