Darius, The World's Longest Bunny, Has Gone

Missing!

Darius, one of the world's most famous rabbits, has disappeared!

The massive, 4 foot 3-inch long Continental Giant, who has held the Guinness
World Record for the "longest living rabbit" since 2010, vanished from his
backyard in the village of Stoulton, England, on April 10, 2021. The local
police, who are frantically searching for Darius, believe he was stolen from
his enclosure overnight on Saturday.

To help locate the thieves, his concerned owner, Annette Edwards, is offering
a £2,000 (about $2,745) reward for anyone with information. In her appeal on
Twitter, the 68-year-old pleaded for her pet's safe return, saying that the 12-
year-old rabbit was too old to breed. “It’s just so upsetting because he is such
a lovable character,” she told The Telegraph.

Though now retired, Darius was once an international celebrity who was

insured for $1.6 million and traveled with a bodyguard. He comes from an
impressive lineage of record-breaking Continental Giants. They include his
grandfather Roberto, who measured 3 feet 6 inches, grandmother Amy who
came in at 4 feet, and his mother Alice, who, at 3 feet 3 inches, held the
Guinness World Record before Darius took over in 2010.

In 2019, Darius's daughter, Daisy May, was awarded the Guinness World
Record for the "world's longest tail." Edwards believes that at the rate at which
she is growing, Daisy May may someday even snag her dad's title. "She’s a
really big girl, about 3 feet 8 inches in length, and weighs two-and-a-
half stone (35pounds)," Edwards told The Sun in 2019. "She’s actually bigger
than our dog, a Cavalier King Charles."

Once bred for meat, Continental Giant rabbits are now prized as intelligent and
loving house pets, especially in the UK. As you may have guessed, the
animals are not cheap to maintain. They need large enclosures and can gnaw
their way through thousands of dollars of food. Edwards says each of her giant
pets, which consume over 2,000 carrots and 700 apples a year, a hay bale a
week, as well as special rabbit food, set her back £5,000 ($6,890) annually!