Two opportunistic thieves filmed picking up a much-loved family pet rabbit by the ears before carrying it away are believed to be Russian – who could be heard saying they were going to 'turn him into kebabs'.
The pair, who were caught on camera stealing eight-year-old Peter from his front garden pen, were laughing and joking and could be heard saying 'we'll make shashlik out of it', as they walked off with the distressed rabbit.
The two men snatched Peter on Saturday afternoon from his garden home in Hull while his owners were out.
Single mother Amy Ulliott, 38, and her teenage children were shocked to find their pet was missing when they got home, she said.
And they were even more disturbed when they viewed CCTV which showed Peter being callously handled by the ears before being carried away.
Ms Ulliott, a carer, told the Daily Mail: 'No one with an ounce of humanity would do a thing like that to a defenceless rabbit, when I saw what they had done I felt physically sick and had very little hope that I would ever see Peter alive again.'
The family immediately called Humberside Police to report the callous theft and Amy and her family took to the streets to search for him themselves, also posting the shocking video on social media.
Amy Ulliott's pet rabbit, Peter, was snatched from her front garden by two men who said they would 'turn him into kebabs' (Pictured: Ms Ulliott and Peter)
The two men, believed to be speaking Russian, grabbed Peter from his pen before dangling him helplessly by the ears
The two men were caught filming themselves grabbing Peter the rabbit from his family home – clutching him by his ears before making off with him
The men appear to be laughing while walking around with Peter, who is still being held by his ears
Both men are captured walking away with Peter in hand, laughing. The rabbit was later found dumped in a car park
It would be almost 24 hours later, on Sunday afternoon, that she finally got good news - a message to say a small brown rabbit answering Peter's description had been found in a car park around a mile away.
The person who found him had taken him in and given him food and water while trying to find his owners - and then, seeing missing posts, got in touch with good news for Ms Ulliott and her children Harvey and Faith, both 15.
She recalled her shock on first seeing the video, continuing: 'One of them picked him up by his ears and they walked away in casual conversation with Peter swinging from the man's grip, not moving at all.
'Carrying a rabbit like that could easily be enough to break its neck and the thought of how terrified he must have been made me and the children despair.
'I don't think any of us slept at all on Saturday night, all we wanted to do was get back out there and look for him.
'I woke up at 5am on Sunday to the sound of my daughter crying. I went to comfort her and after that sleep was impossible, so we got in the car and went back out to look for him.
'I honestly thought he must be dead and the chances of finding a little rabbit somewhere around the streets of Hull seemed remote, but what could we do? We couldn't just give up on him.
Ms Ulliott said she and her children were in 'despair' after viewing the CCTV footage of Peter
Peter was immediately checked over by a vet and is expected to make a full recovery
Peter appears to struggle against the first man, who dangles him mid-air by his ears for more than 20 seconds, while the second man films on
'Around noon on Sunday we got a message and a photo that changed everything and I have never been so relieved in my life.'
She rushed to the house near Pearson Park, Hull, and found Peter subdued but well having been well looked after by the man who had found him in the car park.
She immediately called the vet and he was checked over - with a positive assessment.
Despite being 'wheezy and sad' Peter is expected to make a full recovery back home with Amy's other pets, a cat, a dog and a second rabbit called Thumper.
Humberside Police are investigating the theft, and Amy is also making her own enquiries.
She said: 'Both of them were speaking in what sounded like Russian. And we've been told that one of the men may be called Oleg.'
She said when she uploaded the footage, she was contacted by a Russian speaker who said he had been able to translate what the men were saying to each other.
He told us that one man said to the other, 'We'll make shashlik out of it.'
'It seems they were saying it was their intention to have him on a skewer like a kebab, which is just a horrifying thought.'
But a response suggests the kebab remark may have been a joke.
The Daily Mail showed the clip to a Russian translator who confirmed that the language being spoken was Russian, possibly with a Ukrainian accent.
They said the man who grabbed Peter, turned to his friend and said: 'Take a picture of me.'
He then sings a tune and says 'whoa' when the rabbit kicks out at him.
His friend says, 'Are there potatoes there?', possibly suggesting they planned to make rabbit stew.'
Peter suffers from gut stasis and takes medicine for it three times a day, medicine he was denied during his kidnapping ordeal, exacerbating the family's anxiety.
Ms Ulliott said while she was relieved he was home, she said: 'The utter disregard for Peter and for the owners of what was very obviously a family pet is unbelievable.
'I can't get over the cruelty of these people and I hope that by sharing the video they can be identified and caught.'
- Do YOU know the rabbit thieves? Email: caitlin.leng@dailymail.co.uk