Man’s relationship with the European or ‘true’ rabbit was first recorded by the Phoenicians over 1,000 years BC, when they termed the Iberian peninsula ‘i-shephan-im’ (literally, ‘the land of the rabbit’), which the Romans converted to the Latin form, Hispania, and hence the modern word Spain. The wild rabbit has long been hunted, but it is unclear exactly when domestication first took place. The Romans kept rabbits in walled enclosures (‘leporaria’) and there is evidence that they brought them to Britain, but they did not survive at this time. In Europe, and especially France, the domestication process was well under way by the fifth century, and in the twelfth century the Normans brought them to Britain, where they became established and remain as both a domestic and wild animal. Man also transported the rabbit throughout the world, often with devastating effect; absence of predators in Australia and New Zealand has led them to become a pest. However, the rabbit has not become established in the wild in North America. (From, The Rabbit, Anna Meredith, D.V.M)

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