Simon, a male Continental Giant rabbit, died on a united airlines flight from London to Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the death of the 10-month-old giant bunny is a mystery. He was an offspring of Darius who holds the Guinness World Record as the longest bunny in the world and a man from Iowa had bought Simon to create a new world record by beating the record of Darius, the father.
Who was Simon?
According to Washington Post, the giant bunny Simon was the product of a rabbit farm in Worcestershire, England owned by Annette Edwards, a former model.
She breeds Continental Giant rabbits and Simon was moving to a new home in the United States.
He went through necessary tests and a veterinarian certified him fit to travel. On April 19, he journeyed from the countryside home of Annette Edwards to London Heathrow International Airport from where he flew on a United Airlines flight to Chicago. Once there, he was scheduled to board another flight for the final destination, but that did not happen because he was found dead.
United Airlines had apparently indicated to a section of the media that Simon was alive when he landed and the death must have occurred at a pet holding facility at the airport. The airline offered to perform a necropsy free of charge, but the customer turned it down.
The loss was not the money that he paid to procure the rabbit but the failure of his plans. He wanted Simon to participate him in a contest at the forthcoming Iowa State Fair and put his latest acquisition on display, but God willed otherwise.
The background story
Shipping out giant bunnies is not new to Annette Edwards because she has international clients and she has been doing it for quite some time.
She is selective about the would-be owners since these animals are different from normal rabbits and cannot be put in a rabbit hutch, they are more like dogs and need special care and the right facilities.
She did not have any plan to sell Simon but wanted to keep it as a pet. He was only ten months old and already measured 3 feet, 5 inches long, and Edwards felt that he could break the Guinness World record set by his father Darius which was 4 feet, 4 inches long from the tip of his nose to the back of the toes on his hind legs.
Her logic was simple – Continental Giant rabbits keep growing till they are 18 months old and there was every possibility that Simon could overtake Darius.
However, she had not reckoned with the loss of Simon in the United Airlines flight from London to Chicago. It was a mysterious death and is being investigated.
