How to kill a rabbit

[ina]

No, I've not turned carnivorous all of a sudden and want one for the pot...

This morning I found a very sick rabbit (myxomatosis), which had decided to end its days in the hay that I was going to feed to some sheep. The thing to do would have been killing it swiftly; but I couldn't get myself to try and wring it's neck, being afraid I would bungle it and the rabbit would be in lots of pain! (Yes, I know I'm a sentimental softie and it's only a sick rabbit!)
I could, of course, have got the needle out and given it a lethal injection like we do for farm animals. However, I doubt I would have found the vene on that little beastie; plus - how do I explain the disappearance of a dose of barbiturate from the books? YOU WHAT???

So how do I go about it? What is the quickest and least distressing way of killing an animal like that?

By the way, I moved the rabbit into a different, sheltered position, so I could get at the hay, and it can at least (hopefully) end its life in relative peace.

[glenniedragon]

Do you know anyone who is a good shot?
That would be the good and quick

kind thoughts
Deb

[ina]

Our farm manager has a gun... But I don't think he would have thanked me for getting him out with his gun just to kill a rabbit that's already half dead! It would be the quickest, I know, and failproof.

No, I need a hands-on (or knife-on) method, that I can use myself. I think it's probably just my inner hate of killing anything that's stopping me from just going ahead and cutting the throat of that animal. But I've learned to kill unwanted bugs, and slugs - so why not other animals? That's where the "cute" factor of furry creatures comes in, I'm afraid!

[Wombat]

Sorry mate, in such circumstances I have used a shovel applied to the head with some force. Not pleasant but guarenteed effective.

Nev

[ina]

Might even be easier (for myself) than wringing the neck or cutting the throat... Because you have that bit of distance from the animal - the length of the shovel handle! Daft, isn't it!

Oh well, when I grow up I might get a bit braver and learn to kill animals, too.

[Wombat]

I sympathise - softie here too

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

Ina - can you get someone from the farm to do it for you?

I do sympathise because I have often wondered what on earth I would do in a similar position. I can put down a spider that I have inadvertently injured but something even as big as a mouse I couldn't. But then injured (by cats) mice usually die very quickly anyway.

[ina]

Actually - I thought of getting the cat to do the job for me! But then I remembered another time when Frankie found a rabbit sitting still in the garden that was suffering from myxomatosis - she just tapped it with her paw, and walked away. Bunny wasn't playing, so it was of no interest to her. I once tried to rescue a bird that the cat had slightly injured - I thought it was just one of the wing feathers that had got bent, the bones seemed ok, so the bird would have had a chance, but it died on me anyway. Probably from shock.

AND I thought of getting one of the "big strong men" from the farm to do it for me, too , although they would have laughed their heads off, but they were all busy (lambing, you know?! - everybody rushing around on their bikes with trailers full of feed or sheep when they don't have their arms up the backside of a ewe...). So it was just me and the poor rabbit. I'm sure it has expired quietly by now.

[Boots]

If there are little kids around, or anyone that has difficulty facing death for that matter, and the animal is not too large, I use an empty freezer I have out the back. I place it in the freezer, where it curls up against the cold and goes to sleep.

This is also considered the humane way to dispose of cane toads and works with all rodents, birds and small animals as far as I know.

[Millymollymandy]

I think it might work for lobsters but it sounds inhumane to me! I know I'd much rather be walloped over the head with a heavy spade than put in a freezer to freeze slowly to death - oh no, hang on, I would suffocate very slowly and nastily too.

[Boots]

I can assure you the animals are not taken out in the death run pose, which I have seen when animals die naturally (of old age or injury). When animals enter the death run, they often die mid stride, eyes wide and mouth open and it is pretty disturbing to look at.

Instead the animals come out looking very much like they have simply gone to sleep. Eyes and mouth closed and quite peacefully positioned. I have never noticed any sign of open mouthed gasping as you have suggested with suffocation. Any children involved have been able to better negotiate it all when they then bury a peaceful looking animal, rather than a brutalised and beat up one.

I guess it comes down to your perception of humanity and what is humane. When I go, I think I would rather go quietly and peacefully in privacy. If it is determined by some other person that death is the better option to living for me, then I doubt I'd object to the freezer idea. Come near me with that shovel of yours, and if there was any life left in me, I gaurantee you'd see it!

[Steve Hanson]

I bread rabbits and kill them for our own use as well as for sale to the public, they have a neck which I can only descried as being designed to break easily.

A fox can grip the head of a rabbit and shake its own head and break the neck of the rabbit instantaneously, I have to say nev’s idea is about the most ideal in the circumstances, and as you said it gives you a certain amount of separation from the operation, which is not to be disregarded.

However to be more helpful for all who may want to eat their own rabbit/s

Pulling and twisting works very well but it does take some strength to achieve consistently well’ i.e. rendering said rabbit effectively and painlessly dead.

Hitting the rabbit at the point its head meets its body woks well too, the edge of your hand is ok for this, and for those of you who desire the separation a heavy spanner or even a broom stick will do, but you do need to hold it still or have it held still you don’t want to miss and hit it in the middle of its back it will live through this for some time and let you know it’s still alive.

The French will slit the rabbits throat and let it bleed to death in order to keep the head neatly attached without visible damage or blood clots which form around the broken neck. I think this is barbaric but it is of course your choice.

Hope this helps

Steve

[ina]

Thanks for all your ideas - I think it'll be the spade or heavy spanner for me next time! Anyway, temperatures last night were about freezer like, so the rabbit has by now died of hypothermia.

Does anybody know how myxomatosis is spread around? I was wondering if crows, or cats for that matter, can spread it by carrying infected rabbits about.

[Boots]

It's a blood born virus as far as I know Ina. So it would be spread by cats or dogs if they ate them, or contracted their fleas, I think.

I imagine mossies would do it here too, but you don't have mossies there do you? Anything that transfers blood..

[ina]

Our equivalent are the midges!