Saturday, January 19, 2008

Portuguese Hunting Rabbit

It could well be argued that this is not, in fact, an example of suicide food.

The rabbit is not offering himself up to the brave rabbit harmers, after all. He is merely engaging in a bit of stomach-turning playacting. Perhaps his deep-seated self-hatred compels him to take on the appearance and mannerisms of his oppressors. And is this really so far removed from the drearily typical pig, cow, and chicken—denizens of Man's dominion—who caper and preen and help to guide the daggers in?

Whatever the proper diagnosis, this picture was so horrible it made our brain fall out. As soon as we reinstalled it, we knew that we had a duty to include this rabbit. To share it, to broadcast it to a world benumbed to all but the most outrageous outrage.

Our taxidermy patient has been posed in the garb of the hearty hunter, consisting of a belt studded with shotgun shells. And possibly a green hunter's hat and (slightly less possibly) red hunter's socks.

Whatever the rabbit's intentions, he clearly demonstrates a serious mental impairment. He has thrown in with the shotgunners who delight in removing his kind from the woodlands. And who knows? Perhaps, before he became the conversation piece you see before you, he himself may have been shotgunned into eternity.

And now he stands in mute testament to the life-changing (!) power of the hunt.

(Thanks to Dr. Nick for the photo.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not five nooses? I thought it'd be close, at any rate...

Anonymous said...

Seen at Montrose Fish'n'chips in Scotland...

http://umbrellog.com/images/scotland/otter/P1000718.JPG

Peter.

Ben said...

See our take on the horrible Hot Dog Man here.

Anonymous said...

The posed rabbit may be a traditional set piece - I remember seeing (brace yourselves) a whole family of rabbits got up in just this way in the window of a long-vanished taxidermist in a town near Barcelona, also a great hunting area.This thinking is old!

Anonymous said...

Yes, Anonymous! These rabbits are all over the Spanish countryside! I was so disturbed by them as a teenager on a Spanish Club trip--I was shocked to see them here today. Are people supposed to buy them and display them in their homes? Collect all 4...?

Anonymous said...

These things definitely freak me, at least the cartoons aren't made with animal carcasses (which I view as extra degradation).

But it still depicts animals viewing their deaths as a sport, so yeah.

- HareTrinity