So I'm sat in my living room this evening trying to find something to watch, something that wont rot my soul to the point of suicide and I happen across an offering on BBC Two hosted by Chris Packham. Amongst its features was a rather cute segment about an island situated in the East Sea of Japan. Now the thing that makes this island T.V worthy and also hits high on my Cute O-meter was the fact that it is populated by thousands of wild yet very friendly little bunnies and the absence of any predators means that these lovely Leporidae have more than flourished and have become some what of a tourist attraction.
The Island itself named Okunoshima has a less than cute and fluffy past. It was once used as a production base for chemical weapons during the Russo-Japanese war. The families who lived on the island were moved out and rumour has it that the rabbits were either the pets of the families that used to live on the island prior to the chemical weapons production or they are in fact the descendants of the poor lab animals that were released when the chemical production ceased.
So now these feral rabbits are anything but wild and they seem to have no fear of humans (as you will see from the video below). They actively search out people to see what tasty treats they may have for them. As you can imagine natural vegetation is at a premium on a small island with so many hungry herbivores hopping around.
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