Wild rabbit meat is commonly consumed in many Mediterranean countries. However, the characteristics of the carcass and meat of this game species have been scarcely investigated. This study was aimed at analysing the chemical composition of hunted wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus algirus) meat from Southern Iberian Peninsula, and studying the viability of a rapid analytical methodology for its determination by near infrared spectroscopy. Meat of the wild rabbit subspecies O. c. algirus has 23.7% of crude protein, 0.2% of crude fat, 74.9% of moisture and 1.2% of ash. This composition differed from the values published for domesticated rabbits and for wild rabbits of the O. c. cuniculus subspecies, it being leaner due to its higher protein content and its very lower fat content. NIR spectroscopy models obtained displayed a good predictive ability for the estimation of crude protein and moisture contents (r2 = 0.70 and SECV = 0.39%, and r2 = 0.73 and SECV = 0.38%, respectively), while the calibrations selected for crude fat and ash contents were not acceptable.