Wild rabbits have been seen in New Zealand riding on the backs of sheep to escape rising floodwaters due to heavy rains.
This is according to farmer, Ferg Horne, 64, who claimed to have never witnessed anything like it. He took pictures because he was certain his family would not believe what he had seen.
“I couldn’t believe it for a start,” Horne said.
On Saturday at their South Island property near Dunedin, Mr. Horne was walking through the downpour to rescue a neighbor’s sheep from the floodwaters when he observed three dark forms in the distance.
He was perplexed because he knew his neighbor didn’t have any black-faced sheep.
He then realized he was seeing wild rabbits riding astride the sheep, two on top of one, and a third on the other.
The sheep were standing in three inches of water, clustered together at a high point of the farm.
Although the bunnies were wet, Mr. Horne said they appeared rather at ease atop their fleeced friends.
Rabbits are regarded as pests in New Zealand so farmers usually shoot them.
“But they’d showed so much initiative, I thought they deserved to live, those rabbits,” said Horne.
The sheep were herded by Horne to a dry area of the farm some 50 meters distant.
“As they jumped through the water, the rabbits had a jolly good try at staying on,” he said.
The rabbits seemed to use their paws to hold on to the sheep, he said. As they reached higher ground they slid off the backs of the sheep and then climbed a hedge to find safety.
Later that afternoon, when Mr. Horne came back, the floodwaters had subsided, the sheep had all been saved, and the rabbits had vanished.
