By Nikki Manley, Pacific Director, BARNSC Club Historian
In 2006 it was announced by the American Blue and White Rabbit Club (ABWRC) that a previously unknown colony of American Whites had been discovered in Canada some ten years prior. The breed was at a low point in the US, having been designated a “critically endangered breed” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy just a year prior.
That same year, the annual poll performed by ABWRC showed less than 100 whites nationally, so this Canadian group meant hope for a very shallow gene pool. Some breeders scrambled to bring animals down to the States and thus began the CanAm project.
Lasting questions remain though, especially when we view the backstory. Were they really Americans?
The story goes, as told to and released by ABWRC in 2006, is that Gayle Gordon and Helga Vierich-Drever, both of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, saw an advertisement for a herd of “38 New Zealand White Rabbits” located just outside of Edmonton “about ten years prior”. The rabbits were being raised in a community of Hutterites for meat and fur. Gayle and Helga bought the entire herd.
Interestingly enough, the rabbits weren’t all White. A good portion of them were actually “Gray”, which Helga came to find out later was actually “Blue”.
In the early 2000s Helga had begun showing some of their stock as New Zealands. They did horribly. The animals were far too long in shoulder and just didn’t match up with the New Zealand Standard. A judge told Helga at a show, “I think if they are put on the show table as American Whites, they will do much better.” And so, she did.
As the only “American” breeders showing in the area during that time, they did much better. Judges were excited to see this incredibly rare breed being shown and expressed their rarity in the United States. Feeling confident that Americans must be what they had, they reached out to ABWRC. After receiving photos, the club acknowledged this group of rabbits as American Whites, and both Helga and Gayle were very excited to think they had a true heritage breed rabbit in their hutches. They continued to breed, show, and began registering their rabbits as Americans.
But were they really? Although the rabbits were sold to Helga and Gayle as New Zealand Whites, hearsay says that one of the ladies claimed to have been told by the gentleman that sold them that he didn’t really know what they were. Apparently, the original stock had been brought in during the 1920s and they’d been breeding them “ever since”. Someone had told him that they were New Zealand Whites, and so that’s what he sold them as. This is why Helga had no issues with showing them as Americans. In truth, nobody seemed to know what the rabbits were, and judges were telling her that they simply couldn’t be New Zealands.
This has caused a lot of breeders to the authenticity of these rabbits as Americans. But could they have been? The answer might lie in the history of the Hutterites themselves.
From the late 1880s up until the mid-1910s, the United States saw a large influx of Hutterite people. The Hutterites themselves are a Christian anabaptist group that hails from Germany. Similar to the Amish in belief and practice, the Hutterites have also continued to use their native German tongue. (Today, just like the Amish, they speak a mix of their native tongue and English.) Searching for new opportunities and religious freedom, the Hutterites settled in the upper prairie region, particularly in the Dakotas, where they farmed. For a short time, it appeared that they had found the new home they were seeking.
Unfortunately, as with our own breed, World War I brought a distaste for all things German. The Hutterites began facing increased hostilities and discrimination from local peoples which caused difficulties in acquiring the necessary farming supplies. Then, in 1917, the Selective Service act was passed, requiring all men 18-45 to register for military service.
The Hutterite men refused. Their religious beliefs and those of their community are explicitly anti-war. They simply could not, and would not, participate. At a time when no religious exemptions existed, this meant that “draft evaders” who failed to register were charged with a misdemeanor and could be sentenced to one year in prison. Local government officials sentenced several Hutterite young men to the maximum in an effort to get the others to “toe the line”.
In response, the Hutterites began to migrate into Canada. While the Canadian government encouraged Mennonite and Hutterite immigration during that time by guaranteeing both religious freedom and exemption from military service, it didn’t last long. By 1919 the anti-German sentiment had spread, and objections began from settlers over the Hutterite colonies buying large tracts of the Canadian prairie lands. This prompted the Canadian government to place a temporary band on further Hutterite immigration.
During this time the Hutterite communities began to contract and focus on self-sustainability. Twice now they had faced discrimination amongst their new neighbors, and they would not subject themselves so readily to outside forces.
The mid to late 1920s saw the Hutterites enter into large scale rabbit breeding. Sources disagree to what degree, but most agree that several of the larger Hutterite communities began raising rabbits as both a meat and fur animal, during a time when pelts were going for approximately $2 per finished pelt, the equivalent of about $32 today.
We now come back to our original question. Where these rabbits brought in by the Hutterites Americans?
Being that there were Blues and Red Eyed Whites, and that the herd purchased by Gayle and Helga reportedly matched the American weight standard, there is a good chance.
While the New Zealand White variety began in 1917, they were slow to catch on. On the other hand, the American was hugely successful first in it’s stunning Blue color, then the White in 1925 in response to fur market demands. Breeding Americans, at that time, were going for as much as $25 per head for does – the equivalent of about $400 today.
It’s entirely plausible, if not even likely, that the Hutterites would have bought American breed stock.
First, the Canadian market was limited, and most of the larger European breeds of rabbits were initially coming into the United States. The States were also seeing a huge number of breeding programs and development of “American” breeds. This means that they would have been sourcing stock from the US.
Secondly, the American breed was hugely popular at the time, and the White was the “new” color variety, specially bred for the pelt industry while not giving up those meat attributes.
Thirdly, there just weren’t that many New Zealand Whites to be found. According to the former ABWRC website, “Bob Whitman (legendary author of “Domestic Rabbits & Their Histories”) says these could very well be an isolated herd of Americans since in the 1920s there were many more American Whites than New Zealand Whites for sale.” As stated before, the Whites just weren’t that quick to catch on at first, and some information points to the reason being that the shorter body length produced less pelt at a time when producers were trying to maximize dual profits.
Still, despite these factors, we may never really know for sure.
Proponents of the “CanAms” as they came to be called, pointed to the longer ears and the distinct semi-arch type as proof positive that they were indeed Americans. Detractors point out that the colony in question was sold as New Zealand Whites and that the later claim that the breeder didn’t really know what they were is unsubstantiated. It’s not at all impossible to think that within a closed breeding population the breed could have evolved into something more American-like.
And even then, we can’t be sure that the colony WAS a closed herd. Once again, that’s an unsubstantiated claim, and seventy plus years is a long time. Notably when dealing with an unknown number of starting animals.
What we do know is this. Several animals were imported from Canada and made their way into herds here in the United States. Approximately two dozen of them in total.
Left, is a junior buck from Gayle and Helga’s herd in 2006. Right, is a New Zealand White. You be the judge.
