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18 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. May 25, 1983 ports Rabbits pop up everywhere at annual show At first glance, Maggie doesn't even look like a rabbit. She looks more like a Pek- inese or a poodle, any- thing but a rabbit. Maggie, however, is indeed a rabbit. In fact, she was awarded a first place ribbon at the Central Ontario Rabbit Breeders Club annual two-day show, held last Saturday and Sunday at the Blackstock arena and recreation centre. Maggie is a six- month-old" angora, just What's up doc? Rabbits, that's what! Everywhere you turned at the Blackstock Arena there were rabbits -- big ones, small ones, droopy-eared, spotted and everything in between. It was all part of the Central Ontario Rabbit Breeders Club annual two-day show held last Saturday and Sunday. A I ST STAT STII TOY SN PN jai one of nearly 1,000 rabbits judged during the show, one of the biggest in the province. Rabbit breeders came from all over Canada and the United States to win ribbons and points. Ann Welch, Maggie's owner, drove from Kit- chener for the event with three" of her angoras in tow. "You're looking at an angora sweater," she said, pointing to Maggie. Showing rabbits, she says, gives much the same satisfaction as people obtain from showing horses or any other animals. The bonus is that raising rabbits is compara- tively cheap. "It's a lot cheaper," she says adamantly. "It gives you something to do plus you can keep rabbits in the city." Elmer and Bea Huggins have been rais- ing rabbits for 20 years. The Sunderland couple has been organizing the show for 10 years in the Port Perry area and they can't think of any- thing they'd rather be doing. The whole family belongs to the Ontario Council of Rabbit Clubs, which oversees shows " throughout the spring 'and fall. In summer, Mrs. Huggins says, it gets too hot to show. ~The rabbits are "judged much the same way a horse is -- on type, conformation, color, and compliance to the standard of the breed. Mrs. Huggins estimates there are approx- imately 150 different classes a breeder can «i LA enter, with each one broken down into breed, sex and colour. Points for each win are tallied with special prizes going to the winners at the season's end. "I don't know how we got started, but it was 20 years ago and it's grown on us until it's taken up paractically our. whole lives,"" Mrs. Huggins says. "My husband likes the checker breed and I like the tans, but we've also go New Zealands, Californians, Flemish giants, Polish rabbits, Dutch and meat breeds". Only the "scruffs" are used as meat rabbits. The rest are carefully bred specifically for the show ring, where judges poke and prod to deter- mine the best of breed. The next major show will be the Ontario Council of Rabbit Clubs annual convention held in October. For more information call Elmer or Bea Huggins at 357- 3596. And may the best rabbit win. Judge Bing Harris of St. Jacobs gets a closer look at a Checkered Giant rabbit, just one of the more than 1,000 animals shown on - the weekend. Release a muskie wins a diploma Catching a legal muskie ds probably this province's toughest angl- ing challenge. Now, for those who best our top angling prize and who get that one step up in sportmanship and release their catch, there's a new award. Unveiled by Don" Brand, chairman of the Release Committee for Muskies Canada, the programme diploma-like release cer- tificates free of charge to anglers who fill out a form testifying to the length of the fish and where it was caught. The purpose of the pro- gramme is quite simple. "Muskies Canada feel that a muskie is far too valuable to be wasted or caught only once." The reverse side of the application for the" "Special Release Award Certificate" contains a list of handling and release tips. It also ex- plains how to tell the dif- ference between a pike and a muskle, two fish which frequently inhabit the same waters. Such information is worth offers lodge operators; tourist and guide associations and sportsmen in general who axe conern- ed about the future of muskie fishing in Canada. For further informa- tion or application forms, contact: Muskies of Canada Inc., Release Committee, P.O. Box 261, Station L, Toronto, Ontario. M6E 4Z1. Ann Welch of Kitchener is not holding a having posted on the of fluff. The bundle of fur in her arms i People came from all over Canada and where they breed Tan rabbits (pictured). the United States to participate in the show. Here they pose with their old friend Elmer and clubhouses *°* is Maggle, her award-winning angora rabbit, Richard Elford (left) and his wife Letty Huggins, one of the show's organizers. The programme The breed rather resembles a pekinese or a came all the way from Plymouth England, should be of interest to poodle.