Rabbit leaves his mark on Rottweiler

THERE was no question of a frame-up. Roger Rabbit was caught, bang to rights. The teeth marks on the rump of Beau the Rottweiler would have convinced any jury.

For Roger's owner, Shirley Frampton, it was the last straw. The rabbit had done the impossible once too often - he had reduced a fully-grown Rottweiler, the terror of the tabloids, to a cowering wreck.

The rabbit-bites-dog saga has been unfolding daily for the past month in Mrs Frampton's backyard in Paignton, Devon. Every time Beau, a four-year-old bitch, turned her back, the five-month-old lop-eared rabbit would pounce.

But now Mrs Frampton has had enough. The dog was refusing to leave the house after being bitten on the bottom while she slept, so Roger has been sent behind bars to a breeder.

'Roger has repeatedly assaulted poor old Beau and she was virtually living in fear,' Mrs Frampton, 42, said. 'I had only had him a month but he would take every opportunity to have a go at Beau.

'This particular attack was very nasty. He sidled up to her and just sank his huge teeth into her rump. The next thing I knew she was two feet in air and howling. Beau would not turn on Roger because, quite frankly, she is a coward.'

Roger's new owner Jane Stoneman said: 'Roger is a young buck. He was simply asserting his territorial rights.'

Last night, there were no indications that the Home Secretary was considering emergency measures, such as rabbit-licensing, muzzling or extermination, to safeguard Rottweilers.