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Story: Rabbits

Loading rabbit carcasses

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Loading rabbit carcasses

When refrigerated shipping became viable in 1882, it opened up the export trade in frozen rabbit meat. These men are loading hundreds of rabbit carcasses onto trucks at Dipton, Southland, in 1948. The rabbits have been gutted, and will be taken to freezing plants, then skinned and frozen for export.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: AANR 6329 55 A 38-39-29 Min 5-39

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Robert Peden, Rabbits – Commercialisation and control, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/15267/loading-rabbit-carcasses (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Robert Peden, published 1 March 2009.