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This afternoon I was outside in my backyard clearing away more old leaves and winter debris, there is still a bit of work to be done outside, and with the nice weather finally here for the long haul, I felt inspired to get busy today. I was clearing away the dried up remnants of my dianthus plant, I wasn’t too happy because I had this plant for five years now and I couldn’t imagine how it dried up and died on me when I heard a squeal. I had inadvertently poked something in what turned out to be a burrow. My first thought was that it was a chipmunk and my thoughts weren’t charitable. Those pesky little critters have eaten at least a hundred of my tulip bulbs over the years, not to mention last year’s lilies and my hyacinths. I have lost all of my patience with them so when I heard the squeal and I pulled away the rest of my dead plant, I saw fur and it wasn’t moving. I thought to myself “oh great, a hurt chipmunk” I thought it was hurt because it didn’t move when I prodded it gently with my hand rake. I reached into the shallow burrow and pulled out what I expected to be a chipmunk but turned out to be a baby bunny. This changed everything.
I held the little, tiny, warm baby bunny in my hands and I called out to the baby girl. I couldn’t believe how lucky the baby bunny had been since the snows have melted. Jack, our little hunter, prowls all through the garden and I was shocked that he hadn’t come across this adorable little bundle of sweetness. The baby girl was over the moon with the baby bunny. She made a little burrow for him/her and called the local vet to see what else could be done. Meanwhile I took Jack our little hunter, whose nose was quivering and going into overdrive, at the curious smell he was getting probably from the bunny. The baby girl was told that the bunny would be better served if it were put back near its burrow so that its Mama could find it. Despite having named the bunny Harvey, the baby girl did the right thing and freed the baby bunny somewhere safe away from Jack. The burrow was near the fence, so the baby girl put the bunny on the other side with the nest materials, fried grasses, my plant dianthus and the Mama’s fur and made a similar hole. When the baby girl checked later on, the bunny wasn’t there, so we are hoping that it was found by its Mama and they are fine.
So fare well Harvey, we are rooting for you in the wild!
laurieanichols 