The man in his mid 20s jumped onto the stage, as the famous magician Great Velcro was busy performing his act at Brighton's Komedia comedy club, and ran away with the rabbit, called Georgina, which was placed in the hat.

Some of the members from the audience gave him a chase but the man disappeared with the rabbit in a jiffy.

The Sussex Police have asked anybody who have seen the man to contact them. The man as described by the police is 5ft 10 inches tall, skinny and with blond ponytail and was wearing jeans and a green jacket at the time of theft.

The disheartened Velcro said if the person who took Georgina is able to look after the rabbit then that’s ok with me. "This person may think that using a rabbit in a magic trick is not the right thing to do but I only use her on rare occasions as she's a family pet,” he said.

Velcro however was skeptical whether the rabbit will get the same attention as it used to get from the audience who would always want to stroke her.