Roger, my neighbor, has "a way with animals"-- and it is true he does. Possums sit with him outside at night in the summer, and wild bunnies come up to him to nibble at his fingers and stay on in his yard. I don't know what it is, he is a truly gentle person, maybe that's it.<br>
Anyway Roger acquired a baby bunny last year, aptly named Bun Bun and he built a little house for BB and fed her/him and BB was happy to be there. Then BB got older and Roger started letting him out of the pen to graze on their lawn and BB would do so and then return to the cage at night. Gradually, of course, BB quit returning to the cage and just hung out-- grazing in Roger's yard and eating the provided Rabbit food and sitting with Roger and the Possum (I am not kidding about that) in the evenings.<br>
<br>Then about 3 weeks ago when the weather became very inclement, I got a call from Cindy asking me to watch for Bun Bun who apparently had decided to visit the world beyond and was failing to return home. He liked our front yard and I could easily track him in the snow as he meandered up and down the street. But he stayed close to home. I just hoped he would not visit our back yard when the dogs were out. He seemed smarter than that and I never found Bun Bun tracks in the yard. I was sure he could get under the fence in a thousand places, but he had not.<br>
<br>AND THEN IT HAPPENED.<br>I let the dogs out last night, all four, before bed, and back in came Nigel and Conley. A few minutes later I opened the door to call in Cooper and Llewis and there, right smack in front of me was Bun Bun, IN the yard, IN the corner, trapped-- with two huge (ok one huge, one medium) dog coming at him. He tried to get under the gate and couldn't. He turned, face his death bravely.<br>
<br>Cooper and Llewis had come to a full stop, eyes popping, WHAT??? Bun-Bun took this opportunity, dashed under Cooper and made a dive under the gate into my garden, where the dogs are simply never allowed and cannot get in. Cooper and Llewis did not even bother to sniff the ground, such MIGHTY HUNTERS are they, but continued on into the house where they got biscuits.<br>
Had it been Conley and Nigel out there I am not so sure about the outcome, especially Nigel who has taken to giving the squirrels a run for their money if he catches them out on the ground.<br>I don't think either Cooper or Llewis were particularly interested in Bun Bun stew and I think they were as stunned at the sight of a real, live, large adult rabbit in their midst as Bun Bun was at the sight of the dogs.<br>
I emailed Roger that he better have a chat with Bun Bun who is very pretty but maybe not the smartest Bunny on the block.<br><br>MomPerson to Nigel, Llewis, Conley and Cooper, who apparently have forgotten their heritage as predators.<br>