Silver Fox Rabbit

"This article concerns a particular breed of rabbit, the Silver Fox. For information on domestic rabbits in general, see Domestic rabbit."

The Silver Fox is a breed of domestic rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus"), classified as a Meat and Fur breed under ARBA. They can grow up to 12 pounds [ARBA Standard of Perfection] .

According to data collected by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, there are fewer than 500 breeding Silver Foxes alive today, making them a Critically Endangered breed [ALBC website] .

The National Silver Fox Rabbit Club has the following to say about the breed [National Silver Fox Rabbit Club] :

The Silver Fox Rabbit was the second truly American bred rabbit, the first being the American Blue. In each of these breeds, a Checkered Giant sport was involved. What is now known as the Silver Fox was originated and developed during the 1920's by Mr. W.B. Garland of N. Canton, OH. This man was energetic and had a tremendous knowledge of the essentials of breeding to develop a desired trait. He was a pioneer in many phases of development of the domestic rabbit, its care and breeding.

In some of his hutches, Mr. Garland had a black self Checkered Giant doe. She had the unusual quality of having a large number of white hairs scattered over her body. He also had some English Silvers. The Silver had a 6 pound weight limit for showing, its fur was coarse, similar to that of a guinea pig, and it was a cobby and compact rabbit. This latter trait was a feature that caught his fancy. He envisioned a blocky "Hereford" type rabbit, similar in color to the English Silver, but with a desirable fur and a more practical utility size. He wanted the Silver type and the Checkered size!

After considerable difficulty, a successful mating of the small silver buck and the large black doe was made. From his first litter, the largest buck was bred back to his mother and the largest does were bed back to the father.

With about 40 hutches tied up in this experiment, and after 14 years of consistent culling, he had a rabbit that was breeding true to type and color and was the first rabbit of [its] day to dress out at a pound under [its] live weight. He developed both blacks and blues. Please note that there is no Flemish Giant blood in the Silver Fox other than through the ancestry of the Checkered Giant itself.

Today the Silver Fox is a large rabbit with Senior does at 10-12 pounds and Senior bucks at 9-11 pounds. The body is medium in length with well filled shoulders and hindquarters. The two important features are [its] unusual long fur and evenly silvered coat. The coat is longer than normal commercial rabbit fur, with slightly coarse texture that should resemble the pelt of a fox. Silver tipped or white hairs will be present along the flanks and all over the body including head, feet and tail. The black color should run deep to the skin with a slate undercolor. The most unusual quality of the fur is that when it is slowly stroked backwards from the tail to the head, the fur "stands up," and it requires another stroke from the head to the tail to return it back in place. Silver Fox are a gentle breed and have been dubbed the Teddy Bear of the commercial type. The does are easy breeders and are excellent mothers. They seem to adapt to any climate and sudden changes in temperature does not appear to bother them. They are easy to handle and they like attention. A high dress out percentage with a predominantly small boned carcass makes them a very desirable meat breed.

In September of 1971 the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club was officially chartered with the ARBA, with 15 members. The first annual meeting was held a month later at the 1971 Albuquerque ARBA Convention at which the Silver Fox were again shown. The Silver Fox had been on the verge of extinction and were successfully brought back. They are currently being worked on again to improve type and color and to increase their numbers. Most breeders are hard pressed to fill the demand for this breed and waiting lists are not uncommon at the present time.

The black is the only variety allowed to show at present. The blues are being worked on for presentation to be readmitted to the Standard. Most of the blacks today carry the recessive for blue so many breeders have them crop up in litters from time to time. ...

Notes

References

* [http://nationalsilverfoxrabbitclub.org/content/view/5/6/ National Silver Fox Rabbit Club]
* [http://albc-usa.org/cpl/silverfox.html ALBC Silver Foxes]