Rabbit born without ears near Fukushima

[Speed Demon]

A rabbit has been born without ears close to Japan's leaking Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, triggering new health fears about radiation released since March 11.

According to Yuko Sugimoto, the rabbit's owner, it was born on May 7 in the town of Namie - just outside the 18-mile exclusion zone that has been imposed around the crippled plant.
However, the town has been identified as a radiation hot-spot.

As well as having no ears, the rabbit also appears to have clear signs of albinism – a pure white coat and red eyes that are the result of mutations in several genes.

Outwardly, the rabbit appears to be healthy and video footage posted on YouTube shows it eating vegetables in an enclosure, although the owner said she has since stopped eating locally grown produce.

[Glenn Mitchell]

Probably only will eat genetically modified food.