Growing up, as I did, on a diet of television children's cartoons, it is impossible to fully disassociate my thoughts about rabbits from the images of that iconic cartoon character, Bugs Bunny.

The rodent has been seen on TV news reports - including one with the BBC's Gary O'Donoghue.

When it came, they were all glued to their televisions - a Jesuit priest in New York, an engineering professor in rural Oregon, a geophysicist in San Diego.