Even though we appreciated the scrumptious Easter eggs the Easter Bunny left us as wee kids, who even signed the letters we wrote her with coloured paw pads, we were still Kiwis through and through with a general distaste for the hoppity pests.
So we good ol’ Kiwis sure know how to host the Great Alexandra Easter Bunny Hunt. (DISCLAIMER: Stop reading now if you’re of a sensitive mind.)
Alexandra’s a community in Otago, way down in the South Island. Last weekend was the 15th annual Easter Bunny Hunt, where teams of hunters are spread out over local farms and sheep stations, and have 24 hours to bag as many of the buggers as they can.
This year, 400 hunters shot more than 16,000 bunnies, a bit down on last year’s 22,000.
Just like the British colonial settlers brought gorse to NZ, thinking it a terrifically useful substitute for fencing and now another national pest, rabbits were introduced for hunting sport and to remind the Poms of home. Now, rabbits are among farmers' worst enemies in drought-prone Otago, where grass is scarce.
And I can’t help passing on the faintly quixotic e-mail address for the organizer: bunnyhunt@xtra.co.nz – true spirit!
