Today I Was Handed a Wild Baby Rabbit

Today Jane took part of the day away from medical transcribing to work at spading her garden. Her unruly year-old pup, Sasha, was with her in the separate chain-linked area. Sasha is always being scolded for chasing cats. It seems she has gotten the message that small furry creatures must not be bitten because out in the garden full of last year's weeds she found a tiny baby rabbit and carried it gently in her mouth to Jane. It wasn't hurt at all, but was very frightened.

Jane brought it to the house and handed it to me to do something with so that she could make progress on her garden. I put it in a small cat carrier with grass, and a fresh leaf of lettuce, and kept it by an open window in my bedroom where I was watching television and reading. But when my cats are indoors, I keep them shut up in my bedroom to keep peace in the family. When I brought the cat carrier inside with the little bunny in it, the cats wouldn't leave it alone. They climbed all over the carrier and peered through the cracks. They could get a paw inside the door, and were terrifying the bunny, so I threw them all out and left them there until sundown.

After considering all the pros and cons of trying to keep the bunny in a cage surrounded by predator cats, I decided it would be cruel. He would probably die of fright or starvation from being too frightened to eat. So, just before the sun set I gathered all the cats and dogs inside, and took the bunny, still in the carrier, back out to the fenced garden area where Sasha had found him, and I opened the door of the carrier into a separate grassy fenced area where someone used to keep goats. I checked on him about an hour later, and he had gone out of the carrier into a tight place in tall grass between the fence and an extra stretch of screening meant to keep rabbits out of Jane's garden.

I decided that was the best I could do for him. I don't know if he is old enough to make it on his own without his mother. I hope she will find him during the night. All the cats and dogs are inside for the night, and in the morning dogs can't get out the fenced yard around the house - except for my big fat Smokey Joe who always digs out of any fenced yard. But he is too old, and too fat to want to run after a rabbit, or catch one if he tried. He just goes next door to visit Ed, and his dog and horses.

I don't think an owl will get the little bunny where he is hidden in the tall grass under those short trees. But I'm saying a little prayer, anyhow, that his mother will find him, and he will live to grow to be a big speedy rabbit that can out-maneuver any dogs, cats, foxes or coyotes that chase him. He may even have a share of the garden produce if he must.

I really wish God had figured a better way to feed His creatures than this food chain plan.