- COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Netherlands
- YEAR RECOGNIZED: 2006
- USES: Show, meat
- WEIGHT: 6 pounds (2.7 kg) max., senior bucks and does
- BODY TYPE: Compact
- FUR TYPE: Rollback; 1 inch (2.5 cm) long; soft, dense
- COLOR: Brilliant red-orange
THE THRIANTA (pronounced “tri-AN-ta”) is the closest thing you’ll see to a pumpkin-colored rabbit, which was the intent of its originator, a Dutch gentleman by the name of H. Andreae, who used Tans,
Havanas, and an English Spot in his breeding project. Thrianta coats are soft and dense; the bright, intense reddish hue distinguishes the breed from other midsized breeds of relatively short, compact body type.
The Thrianta, whose name is taken from an older name for the province of its origin (Drenthe, in the Netherlands), was recognized as a distinct breed just days before Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. The war and its aftermath nearly exterminated the Thrianta. The few specimens that survived the war were coarse. After the war, rabbit breeders in East Germany created a similarly colored rabbit called the Sachsengold, and to improve the Sachsengold’s color, the Germans imported the few remaining Thriantas from the Netherlands.
Crossing the Sachsengolds and Thriantas was successful. By the 1960s, Dutch breeders had reintroduced the improved Thriantas to the Dutch rabbit fancy under its original nameplate. The breed reached England in the early 1980s. U.S. fanciers imported Thriantas from the Netherlands in 1996 and earned acceptance for the breed by the ARBA in 2006.