Blogging about Bunnies

A whole chapter in our lives has come . . . and gone, and I didn't even get the chance to tell you about it while it was still current. Yes, if you can believe it, we were once the happy caretakers of two adorable white bunnies. Both of them now have gone to better places. Curious? Here's the story!

We were enjoying a lovely family day the day after Easter when we stopped by the zoo at the end of a long bike ride. Outside the gate of the zoo was a vendor selling small pets--bunnies, birds, a few mice, even a chipmunk! The girls were instantly smitten with these cute white bunnies. Some of our friends in town have bunnies, and though at first they had trouble keeping their bunnies alive (bunnies are really fragile and can die of fright, break their bones easily, or various mishaps like that), their experience seemed quite positive. I tried to convince John that we should buy them with the logic that the bunnies probably wouldn't be a long-term commitment anyway! [Terrible logic, by the way, though it turned out to be true!]

So, on the spur of the moment, we impetuously decided to let the girls each buy a bunny. We brought them home and discovered that one was male, one was female! As well, the male had a deformity (or injury?), his right hind foot was gone! It did not deter him, though, he happily hopped all around the bathroom where we were keeping them. Clara Anne named him "Hoppy" and the other bunny's name was "Silly." For the first few days, all the girls could think or talk about was playing with the bunnies, asking about the bunnies, preparing the bunnies' food, etc.

However, by the third day, reality set in. We really didn't know anything about caring for bunnies before we bought them, and we really hadn't considered well our circumstances--no backyard, a small living space, two bunnies who could potentially reproduce, etc. We told Clara Anne that we were going to have to return the bunnies to the seller.

Clara Anne took the news well, but then when we encouraged her to say good-bye to her bunnies, she sat on the bathroom floor and was weeping bitterly over them! Daddy then relented and said that we could keep one bunny. "Silly" was the girl and was already doing quite well using the kitty litter I had set out for them, and she also seemed to be less aggressive and more mild-mannered than her friend Hoppy. So we decided to keep Silly and return Hoppy.

I brought Hoppy back that very afternoon and though the seller probably thought I was a bit strange, I just told her (here's a direct translation) "It seems that we can no longer continue to raise this bunny, but I didn't want him to die so I brought him back to you." She willingly took him back, especially after I told her I didn't need my money back!

So, life with Silly continued and the girls were really enjoying her. We discovered a little grassy corner of our apartment complex which is not frequented much, and took the bunny out to play and eat grass several times. The weather has really been nice, so that was so fun! Sunshine, green grass, a cute little white rabbit munching away, what could be better?

Well, last Thursday, unfortunately, was to be our bunny's last day. She had enjoyed some time outside in the morning, and had plenty of grass in her cage in the afternoon, but I'm sorry to say that by the evening, she was dead. I had noticed her leg sticking out in a funny way the last time I saw her in the bathroom, so perhaps she broke her leg, or perhaps she ate too much grass or ate something poisonous, I don't know. That's the thing with bunnies--they're so fragile!

I was so sad to tell Clara Anne the next morning, and in disbelief she ran from one bathroom to the other to look for the bunny. But alas, she was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, though, after a long hug from Daddy, Clara Anne very philosophically said, "Well, I guess God didn't want her to live any more." She didn't even shed a tear! I was more choked up than she was!

I don't think there will be any bunnies in our future, at least for a long, long time. They were cute and fun for awhile, though! Though I may have initially sounded rather heartless, I am sorry that we didn't get to keep the bunnies longer. The girls really enjoyed the bunnies and Clara Anne, particularly, did a great job being careful with them, giving them food, even cleaning up their messes. She also loved to hold them in her arms like a baby, and they were totally willing! They'd lie with their feet up with expressions of bunny bliss on their faces. Chloe was half fascinated and half scared of them--they would sometimes nibble her toes and she really didn't like that! Other times she was totally delighted by their bunny antics--hopping around, chomping on their food, wiggling their noses.

So here are a few pictures of our bunnies. I didn't get so many since we didn't have them very long!

Even Christin was totally interested in them, though I didn't let her touch them for fear of her handling them roughly. She loved to watch them, though!

So, farewell, bunnies. We are glad you were with us, even if only for a little while.