'Harey' Potter - the bunny who lived

[Katy Cartee]

This is *totally* OT, but was exciting for me and thought it might be a kute story to tell...so if you like animals, read on :)

You'll never guess what happened to me and Cliff (my boyfriend) over the weekend! Here goes...Saturday evening, while i was at work, Cliff put On-X (my dog) out in the fenced-in back yard to let her run around for a bit. Well he checked on her a little while later and she wouldn't come when he called her (but he could see her), so he figured she was just sniffing something and let her stay out awhile longer. Well later on, he went back out to get her and noticed her "playing" with something. And it turned out that she had discovered 4 baby bunnies!!! 

Well the rabbits were scared out of their wits, obviously. But On-X hadn't actually done any damage to them. So Cliff picked them up and brought them inside. He put 'em in a box in a dark room so that they could calm down and then did a little research on the internet to see what to do with them. 

Well then i got home from work and he told me the whole story. So i got a flashlight and went outside with On-X again just to look around at the nest. And she found a FIFTH bunnie!! The poor little thing was just laying on the ground, all cold and almost lifeless. So i grabbed it up and took it inside to warm it up. 

(trying to make a long story short) One lady that Cliff talked to said that she'd be surprised if they survived the night, because baby bunnies are so fragile, they can easily be "scared to death" literally. But when i woke up Sunday morning and checked on them, only one had died during the night. So i fed the four that were left some milk with an eye dropper. Then we were able to get in contact with a lady that does wildlife rescue in our area and she said to bring them to her right away. 

Well, during the day, another bunny had passed away, so there were only 3 left. And they seemed to be doing pretty well (as far as being active and all). So we rushed them to the lady's house and she said that they were severly dehydrated and that she thinks the mother rabbit had been gone for several days. So she said she'd "sub-que" them (don't know what that means) and just hope for the best. 

So we called her back Monday evening to check on the three, and 2 hadn't made it. But there was one little guy left and she said that he seemed to be doing great and she thinks he'll make it and be just fine. And so i've dubbed him "Harey Potter, the bunnie who lived"...hehe  I'm hoping that we'll get to see him one more time and take a picture before she re-releases him into the wild. 

So On-X is a hero for finding them, we did what we could for them and at least we helped one little fellow out. And yesterday i was outside with my brother and we think we found the momma bunny - dead under a bush  All that was left was a carcass and fur...but we're pretty sure it was her. So these bunnies would have had no chance without a mother. Yay On-X, the hunter!  And long live Harey!

~Katy~

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