Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

As you may know if you read this blog I walk my mother-in-law's poodle most days. He is pretty small but loves chasing rabbits at the hippodrome. Most of the time the rabbits escape without any problem, sometimes they make errors and he gets quite close. Today this one made a grave error and he caught and killed it in the bushes - I didn't have an opportunity to intervene and distract him for the rabbit to escape.

He came out from under the hedge holding is trophy aloft and didn't want to let go of it. He proudly marched directly home with the rabbit swinging lifeless from his mouth. When he arrived home and showed his mummy what he had caught I was able to persuade him to hand it it over for disposal...

If you assume we walk at the hippodrome most days and that there are rabbits visible there most but not all days I think he has a capture rate of about 0.5% per visit or around 2 per year. There are considerably more than 2 rabbits at the hippodrome, so I don't think he has any material impact on their numbers...