Aug 16, 2026 · 7 min · 8 segments
We all think bunnies are cute, but most Australians also used to think they were super tasty... until they became infected with a deadly disease. EWW! This episode will answer questions like…
All righty, so I'm definitely surrounded by a bunch of bunny lovers here, but things were different in the '40s.
Loads of people were living in poverty thanks to an economic crisis called the Great Depression.
In fact, rabbit was more popular than chicken on Australian dinner tables right up until the 1950s.
I love chickens 'cause they're very adorable, but I think there's more of a reason to eat chickens than bunnies, because it just doesn't seem right for people to eat bunnies.
Who would eat that back then? You have a choice of eating a chicken that looks like chicken nuggets.
Yum, yum.
Chicken, understandable.
That's because there were bazillions of the little fluffy butts bouncing around the country.
To be honest, I can't believe I'm saying this, 'cause, like, it's gonna hurt all my rabbit bunnies' feelings, but in the olden days, they would call rabbits pests.
In 1859, a farmer released a handful of rabbits from Europe on his farm in Victoria, and by the 1940s, there were 600 million of them hopping all over Australia.
If you don't want as many bunnies because they breed a lot of baby bunnies, maybe you could desex them.
Then you have just the right amount of bunnies for pets and to be cute.
I mean, that sounds like a good idea in theory, but instead, the government deliberately infected the rabbits with a virus called myxoma.
Maybe bunny lovers loved bunnies, and they tried to infect the bunnies so they wouldn't eat it, but I'm pretty sure there's probably a more scientific reason behind that.
Well, lots of them anyway, because they were destroying the natural environment.
All righty, so I'm definitely surrounded by a bunch of bunny lovers here, but things were different in the '40s.
Loads of people were living in poverty thanks to an economic crisis called the Great Depression.
In fact, rabbit was more popular than chicken on Australian dinner tables right up until the 1950s.
I love chickens 'cause they're very adorable, but I think there's more of a reason to eat chickens than bunnies, because it just doesn't seem right for people to eat bunnies.
Who would eat that back then? You have a choice of eating a chicken that looks like chicken nuggets.
Yum, yum.
Chicken, understandable.
That's because there were bazillions of the little fluffy butts bouncing around the country.
To be honest, I can't believe I'm saying this, 'cause, like, it's gonna hurt all my rabbit bunnies' feelings, but in the olden days, they would call rabbits pests.
In 1859, a farmer released a handful of rabbits from Europe on his farm in Victoria, and by the 1940s, there were 600 million of them hopping all over Australia.
If you don't want as many bunnies because they breed a lot of baby bunnies, maybe you could desex them.
Then you have just the right amount of bunnies for pets and to be cute.
I mean, that sounds like a good idea in theory, but instead, the government deliberately infected the rabbits with a virus called myxoma.
Maybe bunny lovers loved bunnies, and they tried to infect the bunnies so they wouldn't eat it, but I'm pretty sure there's probably a more scientific reason behind that.
Well, lots of them anyway, because they were destroying the natural environment.
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