It was a long time back, but I first heard the story of the
killer rabbit attack on President Carter in 1979 or 1980, and how he fought the rabbit back. I found it hilarious then because I, and everyone else believed rabbits can't swim and that rabbits do not attack people. I always thought that this incident was a figment of his imagination. That was that and I did not read much about that story later. But the connection in my mind had been made. Talk about Carter and in my mind the story of the killer rabbit attack would resurface. He was either the peanut-lover or the rabbit-attacked in my memory.
Well, it turns out that one particular species of the rabbit can swim. The
swamp rabbit is a skilled swimmer. And that this particular incident had been photographed. But this photo was not published until the Reagan presidency. This is the photograph which is in the public domain now, courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Library
You can see the rabbit swimming away on the far right.
The moral of the story is that one should take care in dismissing anything out of hand. We evaluate things according to the information available to us at the time and that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
You can see the rabbit swimming away on the far right.
10 comments:
Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction...but for the photograph, which I am sure has been vetted, no one would have believed that rabbits could swim or attack humans...I wonder whether Red Indians had knowledge of it.Or was it that the tribe in this particular region was completely exterminated?
Gee... rabbit attacking !!! thats new !!!!
a similar accident we encountered was in corbett... a group saw a tiger passing very near them without attacking... !! they were thrilled and told us all about their encounter... later that evening in Dhikala, there were a few chittal's in the forest rest house primises, a chittal (spotted deer) attacked one of the groups and he had to have 20 stitches in his ribs.... .
The deer was more deadly then the tiger !!! lol
The nature has provided defence and attack system to even the most unasuming and innocent looking living beings. But i feel they they would attack only when driven to a corner. In the childhood we used to hear stories that if one lies down in front of a tiger it does not attack.
Thanks for sharing this piece of info.
@Vinod, @Dhiren and @Balvinder, yes truth indeed is at times, stranger than fiction. There is folklore about the city of Ahmedabad as well concerning a rabbit, which you might have heard:
jab kutte pe sassa aayaa,
AhmedShah ne nagar basaya.
Interesting post! I did not know that some rabbits could swim!
Or that they attacked humans. The rabbit must have felt threatened to have attacked President carter.
Cant imagine a rabbit attacking.I always like to keep a rabbit as a pet in my house.
Anyways even the soft and calm creature can attack to defend itself.
Cheers to rabbit.
the fact that it is a rabbit cuddly lil creatures as we think of them makes it more frightening to listen to...and the pic made me believe it...what a story!Where do you come up with these amazing stories from Sagarone?:)I am so curious..You and Bones have aplethora of them:D
lol@Dhiren's deer attack...
jab kutte pe sassa aayaa,
AhmedShah ne nagar basaya.
lol... didnt know...
psst where is all this gk coming from !!!!
@Indyeah and @Dhiren, Don't know about Bones, but at my age, one generally has gathered a lot of useless information and then uses it to write blogposts. :)
hmm what a lesson!!! sure put a few things that are going thru my head at the mo in perspective. thanks for sharing this. u never know when u might come across stuff that might change yer life eh. this could be one of them.
:)
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