Sablé des Vosges

He created it in the courtyard of the 'Vosges School' on Avenue des Vosges in Barr - hence the name given to this new breed - at the foot of Mont Sainte-Odile in the Lower Rhine. A founding member of the 'Barr Poultry Association', founded in 1923, and passionate breeder of Rex rabbits, M. Fritsch had the idea of creating a rabbit resembling a Siamese cat. Based on knowledge of Mendel's laws, crossing Sable Rex, Thuringian Chamois and Angora, and finding two already marked light subjects in a litter, he was able to lay the foundation for what he first called 'Siamese' then 'Opossum', and finally 'Sablé des Vosges'. 'Opossums' were reported at exhibitions in Strasbourg in 1959, in Belfort and Metz in 1960, in Paris in 1961. That same year, Alfred Fritsch presented two 'Opossum' rabbits at the local exhibition in Barr, in 1962 a male and two females, then in 1963, three males and one young female. The first rabbits called 'Sablé des Vosges' appear in 1964 at the Barr exhibition (two males and five females), then in an experimental farm in the North, at the Paris Poultry Show in 1968 (1st prize), in Bradford Harrogate (England) in 1969, at the Ghent exhibition in 1970 (under the unrecognized denomination of 'Bruges Rabbit'!), in Lille in 1971, in Zurich in 1973, while a dwarf Sablé was reported in America... In 1967, Raymond Meyer worked with M. Fritsch to promote the Sablé. But its creator passed away in 1982, at the age of 83. A new impetus due to M. Meyer saw the creation of the Association of Sablé des Vosges Breeders in 1985, and from 1986 no fewer than 94 subjects were presented at the first French championship at the Benfeld exhibition. The Sablé still finds itself very often on the podium these days, and of course regularly in Barr, its birthplace. But the association declined. The association of Sablé des Vosges rabbit breeders merged in 1994 with a multi-breed club, the Club of Colored-Extremity Rabbit Breeders founded and directed by Dr. veterinarian Samuel Boucher, and the Sablé des Vosges remains today in its circle at the national level. Tribute must be paid to its founding president for his action in favor of colored-extremity rabbits, particularly the Sablé des Vosges. The number of Sablé des Vosges breeder members registered with Celec was declining significantly, and the breed was no longer well represented at the championships organized by the club; when the presidency changed, a secession appeared very quickly, and on March 17, 2001, several club members, including Ralph Schmitt, secretary, and Jeanine Meyer, vice-president, founded the 'Club of Sablé des Vosges Rabbit Breeders' with the support of André Fritsch, son of the inventor of the Sablé, in continuity with the action of Raymond Meyer, and the club affiliated with the Lower Rhine Union. Unfortunately, Celec persisting in 'preserving' the Sablé des Vosges within itself, the new club was not recognized as a 'breed club' by the French Federation of Rabbit Breeding and could only organize meetings without awarding official champion titles, but only best subjects of the presentation. Despite this, the club structured itself and soon had more than twenty members. In 2003, president Ralph Schmitt left the presidency to Alain Neuburger, then in 2005 the position returned to Jean-Paul Zimmermann, still in office. Then the Club of Sablé des Vosges Rabbit Breeders fell into lethargy, and on the list of societies and clubs affiliated with the Lower Rhine Union, the club is continuously noted 'dormant', much to the chagrin of the breeders of