Cutting Edge

[DP1]

Did anybody watch Cutting edge on Monday night? It was 'Dangerous school for boys' or something!
The basic gist was that it was an English school over in France that tried to teach traditional values to it's students.lessons such as hunting and Morris dancing.
Anyway at one point of it the students had to kill a rabbit by hitting it at the back of the head with the back of an axe to 'Stun' the animal then slit it's throat. One of the rabbits let out an incredible scream when they tried, is this normal?
The headmaster could not give an explanation as to why it screamed but he did say ithat a Rabbit has no concept of death so it wouldn't be screaming because of the fear of what is going to happen to it. My opinion was that it was in pain.
I have never had any dealings with anything like this I had a pet Rabbit as a child and for some reason that always sticks in my mind and could never bring myself to kill nor eat one.
I would not have a problem with any sort of Game bird but that's adifferent story.
Is it normal or had they tried to dispose of the Rabbit sloppily?

 

[gregorach]

Well, I'm no expert, but you don't need to stun it and then cut its throat - a whack in the back of the head should be plenty to break the neck if you do it halfway right. I've never heard anyone recommend dispatching rabbits like that... I can only say that it sounds like they're deliberately trying to teach cruelty and ruthlessness.

Rabbits may not have a concept of death, but you can't tell me they don't experience fear. They may not intellectualise it, not being the smartest critters, but I'm sure they experience it. Fear is essential for any small, defenseless, tasty animal.

I've only had to kill a rabbit once, and while it did squeak and leap at the moment of dispatch, I'm pretty sure it was just a result of the spinal cord breaking, and I wouldn't call it a "scream".

 

[Nagual]

I agree with gregorach in that nearly all prey have a survival instinct, they don't want to die - I'd call that fear. They don't like pain and stay away from things that do, that I call fear. Having also had a pet rabbit I wouldn't call them stupid, in fact quite often they can be very sly buggers, ours often took the proverbial right out of me!

Rabbits when distressed will growl as well as the well known stamping of feet. The sound was probably a scream from pain, our rabbit certainly made a very odd noise when he caught his claw on something and ripped it out.

The above method of killing certainly sounds over the top.

 

[xylaria]

Don't read this post if you have delicate disposition
When I was ten, i was walking with my two brothers down a coastal path in suffolk. We came across a rabbit screaming and fitting on the path. It eyes were all big swollen and sticky. Even to three townie kids this animal was sick and suffering. So we decided to put it out of its obvious misery. So one of us pick a big stone and threw it at the head. The screaming became louder. We kept throwing stones. It wouldn't die. My eldest brother ran off to get sick. Knowing our efforts to help had made things worse i picked the biggest rock a ten year old can pick up a drove it into the poor creatures chest. That stopped the noise and fitting. I had blood legs and nightmare for months. Proberly the worst way to find to dispatching an animal takes some techneque.

Last weekend my kids skinned their first rabbit. These bunnies had one air pellet per head. I doubt a peep was heard out of them when they were shot.

IMHO everyone needs to know how to dispatch a animal quickly without suffering. When rabbits suffer they make an horrid noise. Trust me that scream is very distinctive. no-one should cause an animal to suffer. I may add I have friend that has told that under islamic rules a sheep must not killed in sight of another sheep as it causes fear and distress to the surviving animal, what that says about an animals concept of death i dont know.

 

[Cormac]

have botched u a shot once, and only once , the bullet severed the thorax spine

the rabbit squeled , and it is a type of squel that would stain your pants if you heard it at night in the woods

i think this program was trying to make an impression on the kids
bending a neck back is a removed killing
spilling blood makes it personal:werd:

 

[spoonman]

a type of squel that would stain your pants if you heard it at night in the woods

 

[spoonman]

When I was ten, i was walking with my two brothers down a coastal path in suffolk. We came across a rabbit screaming and fitting on the path.

AGAIN DON'T READ IF YOU HAVE A DELICATE DISPOSITION

Oddly enough I too came across a rabbit when I was about ten but the rabbit I came across had been attacked by something I thought maybe a stoat or a weasel at the time as there seemed to be should I say bits missing. Anyway it was making the horrible noise we all know too well so I picked up the rock like yourself and I think after I failed first time it too screamed more so I made sure second time around......I will never forget that for sure!!

 

[Nightwalker]

Funny question here, but why is killing an animal often refered to as dispatching or to "dispatch the animal" etc. How old is the use of that word in that context? Where does it come from and lastly.. where is the animal being dispatched too exactly?

 

[Goose]

A rabbit screaming isn't a nice noise, sounds like a baby screaming, I have had one scream after being shot(4/10 shotgun). I dispatched it quickly by striking the back of its neck, the only way I have ever been shown, and I have found it easier with my hand rather than using a stick, tried it once with a stick and it didn't work first time
There are 101 ways to kill an animal, heard of people bragging about biting through the necks of chickens or or swinging them round their heads etc, usually by walts explaining it is a "survival" technique in case you have a broken arm, animals do have to be killed, fact of life, it needs to be done with the least suffering for the animal, amazing how these "survival" techniques are usually for killing chickens as they are easy and cheap to get hold of for "practising"

Dispatch means to send something away quickly, I think it is a very apt word, once the life has gone you are left with a carcass.

 

[Ben_Hillwalker]

ANOTHER ONE NOT TO READ IF YOU ARE OF A DELICATE DISPOSITION

Bit of a species jump here but...

I once came across a wood pigeon that had been hit by a car and was in a bad way. I decided to end its suffering by pulling on its head to break the neck. The head came off in my hand. That was freaky enough, but when I looked at the head in my hand the eyes blinked at me.

 

[EdS]

not rabbits but when I do chickens I kill them by removing their head with a clean blow of a sharp meat cleaver. don't like necking them - never 100% sure they are dead.

 

[Goose]

not rabbits but when I do chickens I kill them by removing their head with a clean blow of a sharp meat cleaver. don't like necking them - never 100% sure they are dead.

You still have to be careful, http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/

 

[pothunter]

The priest that I have for dispatching is a small piece of wood about 8” long and 1 1/4” in diameter hollowed and weighted one end with lead. I was told that to dispatch a rabbit or pheasant cleanly it must be hit three times Father, Son and Holly Ghost.

So I’m guessing it must have some kind of religious origin.

As for cutting the throat of a rabbit it’s completely unnecessary I just stretch their necks and bend the head back very clean no mess to attract flies, as do most folks.

Rabbits will squeak sometimes when being taken out a net it may be part of their defence mechanism, startling the attacker and making it let go.

Hares and pigs squeal!

 

[Carcajou Garou]

Yes rabbits, hares can cry/squeal like a baby when they are in pain whatever the cause, just become more effecient when "dispatching" them.

 

[Paganwolf]

True my friend, no matter what animal it is if it gives its life to us it deserves a quick and speedy death, if a person does not know how to swiftly dispatch their quarry correctly they have no right to hunt it. just my oppinion.