Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1939-195?, 1945-02-08
LiqhtS of New York

Many a lad wearing the uniform
of Uncle Sam owes his life to a
rabbit. The pneumonia serum used
by the army and navy comes from
the blood of rabbits. The army
medical corps finds rabbits an in
valuable aid in it's work. The chemi-
cal warfare division uses rabbits in
a manner that means increased
safety, and perhaps life, for our
fighting men. Without rabbits, hos
pitfalls, military and civilian, would
be greatly handicapped. This and
much more, I learned during half
hour chat with Ted Steele. Yes, /
mean Ted Steele, the musician He's
well known in musical circles and
has been since he was mere
youngster. He and his orchestra are
now heard on the air five times
week. Nevertheless, he holds that
rabbits, and to a slightly lesser de-
gree, CAVES, are his career. So each
Friday midnight, he leaves for his
farm, which is half in Pearl River,
N. Y. and half in Park Ridge,
N. j., where he raises rabbits and
CAVES, which are more commonly
called guinea pigs.
Before Pearl Harbor, there were
no big commercial breeders of rab-
bits in the United States, Steele told
me. At the time of the sneak attack,
he had about SO breeders on his
farm. Hospitals were dependent
on casual sources Of supply, and
from friends, often received out
grown pets. In all, there were only
about 500 rabbits available for gov
eminent work. So Steele, a director
of the American Rabbit and Cavy
Breeders association, was appointed
to coordinate the rabbit situation
for our armed forces. He increased
his stock to the point where he now
has 5000 breeders. Also, in just
about every state in the union, he
has $50 'sub-contractors" to whom
he supplies pair or a trio of breed
ers and buys their offspring. At
present, he supplies 100 hospitals,
government and civilian, the army
medical corps, the chemical war
fare division and the navy through
the Brooklyn Naval hospital.
The value of rabbits to medical
science lies in the fact that rabbit
blood in composition and structure
is nearer to that of the human be-
ing than any other animal with the
exception of monkeys and an ade-
quate supply of monkeys is not
available. Steele's breeders are
New Zealand whites and heavy
weight chinchillas. The New Zea-
land white didn't originate in that
country but originated in California
and was given fancy name. The
chinchillas are cross developed by
breeders. The rabbits are fed on
hay and grain which Steele grows
on another of his farms in Bucks
SOCl1ty, L a. ol1CC d WCChs 0S a CO1l.
ditioner and not as food, each rab-
bit is given carrot and thus a
blow at the story book tradition that
rabbits live largely on carrots.
Another illusion Steele dispelled
was the rapidly with which rabbits
increase. Rabbits don't multiply -
that is, they don't multiply and
thrive. So at the Steele rabbitry,
where each rabbit must be in top
condition, the rabbits are restricted
to three filters year. The filters
are reduced to six each, so a total
of Is rabbits year for each pair.
A rabbit natures at eight months
and may live as long as five years.
Their life cycle is limited to three
years by Steele. Now, 80 per cent of
his rabbits 60 to the government