A group of Franciscan sisters has taken on the mission of conserving Spain’s giant rabbit, a breed in danger of extinction. Source: Global Sisters Report.
Sr Consuelo Peset Laudeña’s morning routine is not what one would typically expect from an abbess.
Before prayers and breakfast, she heads to inspect, one by one, cages housing 35 giant rabbits and their young inside the Convent of St. Anthony of Padua in Central Spain.
At 54, Sr Consuelo leads the group of Franciscan sisters conserving Spain’s giant rabbit.
This breed is not only a genetic heritage belonging to Spain but also part of the country’s historical memory, the abbess said. During the Spanish Civil War and the postwar period, raising them was crucial to feeding families and orphanages in times of scarcity.
“Many families have managed to get by thanks to this animal, and now it seems we are forgetting that part of our history,” she said.
Sr Consuelo said that in Spanish regions such as Valencia, Madrid and Asturias, numerous farms kept up to 300 breeding females, which made it possible to feed a large number of people, especially those orphaned during the war.
The breed, a cross between the Flanders Giant and Spanish brown-type females, can weigh up to 9kg and has a high reproductive capacity, as each female can bear up to 22 pups per month.
Raising the animals at the convent began more than 30 years ago when Sr Consuelo’s parents gave her a pair of rabbits for personal consumption. However, a decade ago, the initiative took a new turn toward conservation when the sisters discovered the breed was at risk of extinction.
“We contacted an association, I sent some photos, and they told me, ‘You have a spectacular animal, and it’s endangered,’” she recalled.
Although Sr Consuelo was not leading the convent at the time, her community agreed to participate in the recovery, breeding and study of the rabbit.
Sr Consuelo said she will continue the work of preserving the giant rabbit because it aligns with Pope Francis’s call to care for nature spelled out in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si.
“We have to protect creation,” she said. “We are Franciscans. St Francis is the patron saint of veterinarians, and that is the source of the love and admiration we feel for the Spanish giant rabbit.”
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At a Spanish convent, nuns breed rare giant rabbit (By Lissette Lemus, Global Sisters Report)
