What the Romans did for us
It is not a question I have ever been asked, but if anyone were to enquire as to what I think the greatest tragedy of the sporting scene has been over the past 50 years, they would get a long and passionate ramble about the sad decline of the rabbit. Most people agree — and there is archeological evidence, mainly from East Anglia, to support the view — that the rabbit probably arrived with the Romans in around 100 BC. The Romans farmed them for meat and fur and they were very keen on a bit of coursing.
Later, the Normans brought more rabbits and began to farm them a bit more industrially by providing protective warrens that allowed the bunnies to acclimatise to the lessthan-Mediterranean conditions.
It was
