Puff-tails with puffy eyes, legacy of the human will

Sandy Bedfordshire I would nurse with affection these pitiful rabbits so horribly afflicted with myxomatosis

A wild rabbit, caught by a ferret and from Somerset, was put on my plate at the weekend smothered in apple sauce. I have had to kill a few rabbits myself; pitiful creatures so horribly afflicted with myxomatosis that I could easily pick them up to end their suffering.

I know what it is to catch one of these near-blind, puffy eyed animals and hold its warm body, feel its weight and the fur rippling under my cupped hands. I would nurse the animal with affection, half forgetting that this wild creature had never before been touched by a human.