It sounds like a job for Wallace and Gromit. A monster rabbit has apparently been rampaging through vegetable patches in a small village in northern England, ripping up leeks, munching turnips and infuriating local gardeners.

In an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the hit animated film Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, angry horticulturists in Felton, near Newcastle, have now mounted an armed guard to protect their prized cabbages and parsnips.

They call it the monster. Its very big -- its nearly the size of a dog, said Joan Smith, whose son Jeff owns one of the plots under attack.

Its eating everything, all the vegetables, she told Reuters. They are trying to shoot it. They go along hoping to catch it but I think its too crafty.

In the Wallace film, which topped both the U.S. and UK box office charts and in March won an Oscar for best animated feature film, the plasticine heroes battle a mutant rabbit bent on destroying their home towns annual Giant Vegetable Contest.

Those who say they have witnessed Feltons black and brown monster describe it as a cross between a rabbit and a hare with one ear bigger than the other.

Its antics came to public attention when Jeff Smith, 63, raised it as an issue with the local parish council.

He came along to pay the annual fee for the allotment (vegetable patch) and he said ooh weve got this big cross between a hare and a rabbit, the councils clerk Lisa Hamlin told Reuters.

Smith himself has described it as a brute which had left huge pawprints.

This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster, he was quoted by newspapers as saying.

It is absolutely massive. The first time I saw it I thought to myself What the hell is that?

We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is very clever.

最近一段时间，一只“怪物兔子”将英国北部纽卡斯尔附近村庄费尔顿的一些菜地闹了个底儿朝天。当地村民采取了各种手段对付它都无济于事，被它折腾得大为光火。

据路透社日前报道，有人声称自己曾亲眼目睹过这只兔子的“尊容”。按照他们的描述，这个身体呈黑棕二色的怪物看上去像是家兔与野兔的杂交产物，其两只耳朵显得大小不一。

当地一个名叫琼·史密斯的村民说，他儿子杰夫所拥有的一块菜地就曾遭到这只兔子的侵袭。“他们把这只兔子称做怪物。它的个头很大，几乎快赶上一只狗了”，“这只兔子什么都吃，所有种类的蔬菜全不放过”。她在接受记者采访时表示，“他们曾经试图开枪将它打死，也一直希望能将其活捉，但在我看来，这家伙实在是太狡猾了”。

现年63岁的村民杰夫·史密斯说，这只兔子“非常凶残”，它所遗留下来的爪印硕大无比。“这绝非一只普普通通的兔子。我们其实是在与一个怪物过招儿，”当地报纸援引他的话说。“毫无疑问，它是个大块头。我第一次见到这只兔子时就情不自禁地想，‘这到底是个什么东西呀？’现在我们这里有两个年轻人整天拿着枪试图将它击毙，但这只兔子表现得的确很机灵。”

报道说，这只兔子的怪异举动与前不久热映的动画片《超级无敌掌门狗:人兔的诅咒》的情节颇有几分相似之处。该片前段时间曾高居英美两国电影票房排行榜的榜首，并在今年3月份获得本届奥斯卡奖的最佳动画长片奖。在影片中，一只举止反常的兔子每天晚上潜入小镇的神圣菜园，不单乱践菜田，还破坏众人参加蔬菜大赛的参赛作品。于是，由粘土制成的英雄们与这只变种兔子展开了一番激战。