The hunter and the hunted

This morning before the DIY battle with the greenhouse and the wonky wall I took my mother-in-law's miniature poodle for his walk. We must have timed it well, because there were rabbits everywhere and he had a great time chasing them and not catching them. He hunts with his nose and not his eyes, so the rabbits usually escape and he doesn't give chase in the way a lurcher would. Today there were more rabbits than usual, and they were all over the place and not close to their burrows as normal. As you can see in this picture he caught and killed one.

The hippodrome has no shortage of rabbits, I think I've counted more than 50 at a time and I'm sure they pay a man with ferrets and/or small dogs to hunt them at night, now and they - or the place would be overrun and there would be holes all over the race track - which isn't good for horses.

Based on previous kills, I think the rabbit would have had a quick death, he's not like a cat that likes to play with his prey. This one was too big to try and eat, so he showed me his kill and then proudly walked home with it to show his mummy.

Nature tooth and claw...