They can be found hanging on the walls of rural bars throughout the Western United States and even in the Osaka, Japan, City Hall, but jackalopes aren't on the endangered species list.
But that didn't stop customs officials at the Osaka airport from poring over the list for the mythical mammal when two were found in the luggage of a four-member trade delegation from Douglas."Douglas is the world capital of the jackalope - and we sent two of them for presentation to the chamber of commerce and the mayor," Tim Stamp, Douglas' economic development officer, said in a telephone interview Monday.
Jackalope, which look like rabbits with antlers, are the stuff of tall Western tales. Legend has it that the hybrid of the jackrabbit and antelope can attain speeds of 90 mph and often sing or mate during thunderstorms.
In Wyoming, likenesses of the jackalope often are created by mounting antelope antlers on the stuffed head or carcass of a jackrabbit. They are mounted like hunting trophies.
The Douglas delegation flew to Osaka in early February to attend a trade show there and took with it two jackalopes to be given as gifts to Osaka officials.
But Stamp said during a search of a bag belonging to John Blair, a Douglas leather craftsman, customs officials found the jackalopes and began to question him about the animals.
"They didn't speak English all that well, so it was kind of hard to explain to them what the jackalope was," Stamp said. "They started to look for it on the endangered species list and were not going to let it through customs."
Fortunately, Stamp said, also in the bag was literature explaining the legend of the jackalope.
The story has a happy ending, Stamp said.
The mayor of Osaka, after hearing of the problem, sent a limousine to pick up the Douglas residents at the airport and bring them to City Hall, he said.
"Blair said it was very diplomatic and solemn until they wanted to see the `rabbit with horns,' " Stamp said. "They got very excited about it. . . . We do know it's hanging somewhere in the Osaka City Hall."