Betty Chu promoting the English Angora world wide

Long time fellow breeder and expert, Betty Chu, continues to promote the English Angora world wide.

Through out the years, Betty has been featured in magazines, videos, and now even an appearance on TV! By far, Betty is one of the most noticeable ambassador of the English Angora rabbit and is always eager to selflessly share her knowledge and expertise with people.

Visit the Northern California Angora Guild, a blog where Betty gives a lot of information about her experience and knowledge of raising English Angora rabbits, and most recently, raising some French Angoras. In addition, you will see posts about her fun and exciting experiences promoting this wonderful rabbit to the world.

Betty's blogging has been renowned for its beautiful pictures of her awesome and extremely fluffy English Angoras. 

Required by True Rabbit Breeders

Any serious rabbit breeder needs to have a copy of the ARBA Standard Of Perfection.

Very often, people go to Facebook or other sites and ask people questions that can easily be answered if they looked in the SOP. This nifty little book can be purchased through the ARBA Store website or your local vendor for a very small fee of $20.
I have two copies since I had misplaced my original one. I bought my first copy in Kansas from a vendor whose name I don't remember, but the recent one was purchased through Bunnyrabbit.com at a local show.

For me, since I raise English Angora rabbits, I am specifically interested in pages 67-69; however, it is imperative to look at the Angora recognized colors, too. Overall, the book has so much information about all breeds to learn from.

I have been raising and showing Angoras since 2007, but I often refer back to these 3 little pages every time I am planning a breeding. It is imperative that before one breeds a rabbit, one needs to know the goal of said breeding and the expected outcome. These 3 pages can give you so much information and guidance as to what you seek and then you can decide if your stock is strong enough genetically to go ahead and begin this breeding.

Alpaca Handspun Yarn

I handspun alpaca fleece into yarn for a friend. I kept half of the fleece and she received half of it spun into yarn. Now, I just need to find time to spin my stash. 

 

 

Angora rabbits' wool used during Hitler's era

My good friend, Lil and I have been discussing about our fascination for the Angora breed and its origin. We are thinking about searching for articles, books, and other documents that could give us insight into the actual origin of the Angora rabbit.

We have not fully committed to said task; however, as I was briefly browsing through the internet seeking for some historical accurate documents or accounts of its original origin, I came about some interesting, yet disturbing articles and blogs about a Nazi plan to breed German Angora rabbits in concentration camps to harvest their wool and make warm garments for Hitler’s armed forces.

One of the articles cited this was information found in a “German archive. ‘Operation Munchkin’, as it was known , was the brainchild of sinister S.S. Chief Heinrich Himmler” (http://disinfo.com/2013/10/nazis-bizarre-plan-breed-giant-angora-rabbits/).

There are several links I've included here to read information about this account:

Disinformation
Mail Online
Mirror
PRX Piece Himmler's Angora
Wisconsin Historical Society  (on search add "angora")

Some of these sites have articles and pictures of German Angora rabbits, their housing, and so on. Unfortunately, some of the articles have pictures of English Angoras, which should not be there, but they are. 

Disclaimer: These sites are just added for information purposes. I do not take responsibility for their information, nor support their views or endorse them. I found these sites and thought it to be "thought provoking" and informational.

P. Ricardo Gonzalez

Happy 4th of July 2014