LONDON – Missing: Darius, with long limp ears and a 4-foot record breaker. Last seen in a rabbit hutch in Stoulton, England.
Police said they were hunting one of the largest rabbits in the world, if not the largest, that went missing over the weekend.
“We are calling for information following the theft of an award-winning rabbit from his home in Stoulton, Worcestershire,” Western Mercia police said in a statement on Monday. “The rabbit is quite unique because it is 4 feet tall.”
Darius, who became a world record holder from Guinness for his great length in 2010, was stolen from a garden shed in central England on Saturday night.
Darius’s owner, Annette Edwards, written on Twitter that police worked hard to locate her award-winning pet and that she offered a reward of £ 1,000 ($ 1,400) for his safe return.
“A very sad day,” she said. “Darius is now too old to breed. Please bring him back.”
Edwards said in an interview with the program TODAY in 2010 that her massive pet – a continental giant rabbit – was friendly, had a lot of appetite and slept well on furniture.
The couple visited the country together with Mr Edwards who donned a Jessica Rabbit outfit to show off the giant Darius.
At the time, she said the famous bunny was insured for $ 1.6 million, had an agent and traveled with a bodyguard.
Download the NBC News app for news and politics
Darius’ disappearance comes amid an increase in pet theft in England during the coronavirus pandemic.
The charity DogLost said reports of thefts have risen 170 percent in the past year, from 172 dogs in 2019 to 465 in 2020.
Pet detective Jacob Lloyd, head of investigations at Animal Protection Services, which is prosecuting organized animal cruelty, told NBC News that “pandemic prices” for all animals have risen in Britain – with the average price for a pet dog jumping from around £ 700 ($ 1,000 to 3,500 pounds ($ 5,000) last year.
“It’s completely out of proportion to what we would normally see,” Lloyd said. “Opportunists and organized criminals have benefited from the increase in prices, and theft of dogs and other animals has increased.”
While people in England were locked up for much of the year, Lloyd said the need for ‘company’ while spending more time at home led to an increase in demand.
In Darius’ sensational case, a possible ‘by-intention’ may also be at stake, Lloyd, a pet detective, added, probably the work of organized criminals who knew its value.
British Police Minister Kit Malthouse called theft of animals a “bad crime”, in a statement earlier this year.
“Let me be clear: theft of pets is a criminal offense with a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and should be confronted wherever it occurs,” he added.
Singer Lady Gaga’s two pet dogs, Koji and Gustav, made headlines worldwide when they were briefly stolen and returned in February, amid her public pleas and a $ 500,000 reward.
Her French bulldogs were taken in a violent robbery in Hollywood, in which the singer’s 30-year-old dog walker was shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
