The Bunny Lady

Last week, I discovered that a bunny had made a nest in my strawberry bed.  Part of me was excited because I think baby bunnies are the cutest things ever but the other part of me was perturbed because Paul had rigged up my strawberry bed with chicken wire and netting and critters weren't supposed to get in.  This was one smart bunny though and she found a way.

The strawberry plants in the area she built her nest in weren't looking too hot but I didn't feel like I could water them or interfere with them so I left them alone.  Paul thought I was crazy but there was no way I could harm the cute little furballs even if that meant by beloved strawberry bed  would suffer.

A couple days later when I went out to check on my strawberries and peek at the nest from afar, I saw that the nest had been disturbed a bit and one of the baby bunnies had been killed - and in a pretty terrible way.  There were two other baby bunnies still in the strawberry bed hiding under the leaves.  They looked scared too death.  I pondered for a bit on what I should do but then decided I couldn't bare to see the other two killed as well so I picked them up, made them a little nest in a shoebox, and brought them inside.

I spent the next hour googling on how to care for wild baby bunnies and found out it was very difficult.  The survival rate is pretty grim.  I gave it a try but no matter what I did those little guys wouldn't eat or drink for me.  I thought maybe they needed a little love and Alexa was happy to help with that.

Still no luck though.  So...then I googled who could care for wild baby bunnies.  I got in touch with a Wildlife Rehab group out of Omaha and they put me in touch with the Wildlife Rescue Team in Lincoln.  Prior to this, I had no idea such organizations even existed.  The on-call person I spoke with (yes, these wonderful people even work after hours) gave me the address for "The Bunny Lady".  She said this woman has a bunny crate on her front porch and I could drop the bunnies off anytime and she checks the crate many times a day.  She then cares for the bunnies until they get big enough to be released back into the wild.  

So, Alexa and I drove across town and dropped the bunnies off on on the porch of the "Bunny Lady".  I rang the doorbell because it's not every day you get to meet the "Bunny Lady" but she didn't answer.  I left a sticky note with my name and phone number asking that she call with an update if she wouldn't mind.  Before I even got home, the "Bunny Lady" had called our home number and left a message saying the bunnies were in great shape, I didn't need to worry and they should be just fine.  She said she thought they were about 8 or 9 days old.  She was going to start them off on some formula and she had four other bunnies about their same age that they could learn from.

Wow!  I was astounded that a group like this exists in our city and I think it's pretty wonderful.  The little guys are being well cared for and aren't ruining my strawberry bed.  Sounds pretty good to me!

By the way, Paul still thinks I'm completely crazy and tonight he fixed up my strawberry bed again to further "critter proof" it.  Gotta love him!