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Mutant bunny crushed to death by cameraman at news conference

Uwe Meinhold / dapd via AP

The fate of the earless bunny Til, crushed to death by a cameraman, was splashed across German media this week.
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

It can't be an easy job, being a cameraman. You've got to haul around and operate heavy equipment, get the shot you need all while staying out of the way of the action, and -- who knew? -- refrain from crushing to death the subject of that day's story.

According to Der Spiegel, a zoo in eastern Germany invited a television camera crew to film a rare earless bunny they had named Til. It was the only earless one in a litter of six.

The zoo wanted to use the film footage in a news conference planned for the next day, zoo director Uwe Dempewolf told the newsmagazine, because "rabbits without ears are pretty rare."

Sadly, that news conference was never held, because "during the filming, the cameraman took a step back and trod on the bunny," Dempewolf told the newsmagazine. "He was immediately dead, he didn't suffer. It was a direct hit."

The cameraman told the German newspaper Bild that the bunny was buried in hay, so he didn't realize he was stepping on it until it was too late. Needless to say, the other bunnies are fine.

Der Spiegel reports that Til the bunny has been frozen and now may be stuffed."