Sunday, June 6, 2010

A bunny tale. (long)


Last Easter we got the girls rabbits in hopes of joining 4H. We did join but never made it to any meetings, which never seemed to be what we had thought it would be. So we had 3 pet bunnies, all girls we thought. When the weather was nice we moved them outside. They had it pretty good, I thought. Everyday we put them out in the grass so they could exercise and eat fresh greens. We even brought them dandelion greens and alfalfa from the field. Soon though Fufu became an escape artist and climbed the fencing. Easily caught, this became almost a daily routine, she (actually he) was forever foiling our attempts at keeping him caged. Unfortunately, this was to be his downfall and after an escape trip, he got sick and died. I can only assume it was something he ate, as there were no wounds anywhere.
So now we were down to 2 bunnies and they lived in their nice hutch together. When the weather got cold, we moved them into the barn and Bryan made a nice encloser so they still had plenty of room the play and still stay warm. Despite the large area they had, they both managed to escape, but were still in the barn.
When the weather turned warm, we opened the barn doors, but put up bunny fence in front of the door to prevent them escaping, silly us. First Mrs. Magoo fled, but she stayed close and came back to eat and drink. Piggy whiskers hadn't figured it out yet. We tried catching Mrs. Magoo, but to no avail. So we kept an eye for her and made sure she had a safe place, food and water.
Just about the time that Piggy made her break, Mrs. Magoo disappeared. No sign has been seen since. Piggy didn't have an easy time, she got entangled in the electric net fencing, luckily the charge was low enough that she recovered. We reinforced the hutch, fence enclosure and thought we had finally outsmarted Piggy. NOT. After a few days of recovery, she escaped again, never to be caught again.
Now please don't think we are negligent pet owners, we love Piggy and are finally admitting that the rabbit is just smarter than we are. It has been 2 months and Piggy has free run of the farm. She is quite happy and fat. She likes to hang with the chickens, but her special love is Wallace, our 'barn cat'.
I think this love affair began last year, when the bunnies where in their outdoor fencing, Wallace would come and sleep next to the fence. Often touching noses through the fence. Well now that Piggy is free, she has not forgotten those visits. She chases Wallace around the farm. At first it was innocent nose touches and a sniff, now it has moved on to X rated conjugal visits. Never mind that she is rabbit and he is cat. I have actually had to turn the hose on Piggy, she doesn't take no for an answer.
But it turns out that Wallace may not actually mind, for he often seeks Piggy out and vice versa. It seems that Wallace will hop up on the picnic table when he needs 'alone time' and Piggy is content to sit under the table. But as you can see, Piggy has overcome this obstacle as well.
So true love wins out I guess.

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