Little Bunny Fufu

Or as we like to call them, Buckwheat and Sally (at Tommy's request). Last weekend, we were power washing our house and deck when a couple of itty bitty baby bunnies came running out from our porch. The kids were napping, but Nick yelled for me to come help him. We caught two of them and put them in a big storage bucket so we could show the kids when they woke up........first mistake.

 

Now, I am NOT an animal lover. At all. Not even a smidge. And don't tell me you have the world's cutest cat thinking that will make me like animals if you show me pictures of said cat. However....these bunnies were so freakin cute!! Like, SO cute! They were tiny and soft and sweet.  And they're outdoor animals, which already makes them a notch above the rest in my opinion. I was starting to fall in love (or as in love as I could with an animal)....second mistake.

 

At one point, I was kind of regretting catching them because Nick and I have ZERO knowledge about how to keep baby bunnies alive. So of course we went with lettuce and carrots and water. The kids woke up from their naps and I rushed them outside to see these cute little fluffs of fur. Letting the kids get attached.....third mistake

 The bunnies did great for 4-5 days. They started becoming active and fun to watch despite Tommy dropping one (it wasn't hurt) in the garage and it escaping for a terrifying three hours (in which I worried the whole time that it was hiding in the lawn mower and come time to cut the grass, we'd have a shredded up bunny on our hands. GROSS.). However, the baby rabbit was found and put back in his kennel (rabbit cage??) and Tommy was instructed NOT to pick up the bunnies any more. But on the 5th day or so, something kind janky happened. We petted both bunnies before I took the kids to daycare and went to work. 

They were in our garage. 

The garage door was shut. 

When we came home from work, one bunny had died and the other was no longer in the box. What the what?!? There is NO way that bunny could have jumped out of that box. The sides were fairly high and steep and the bunnies were so tiny. I was SO sad about the dead bunny and SO confused about the missing bunny. The only explanation I could come up with was that there was a snake in our garage that ate it. I mean, really. WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE HAPPENED?! While Nick secretly went to take care of the bunny that died, I explained to the kids that the bunnies had run away to go back home to their mommies. Tommy calmly accepted my explanation and went about his day. I was relieved that we didn't have to take care of them anymore. I hadn't really wanted to keep them, but didn't want to turn them loose without knowing where their mom lived and kept imagining them getting stalked by hawks or coyote. But now, it was out of our hands and I didn't have to make that decision.

And then lo and behold. We were getting ready to go inside for the night and Nick sees a baby bunny right by the outside of the garage door. And he caught it!! WHY, NICK?!? WHHHHYYYYY?!?

Suddenly, we were back to being responsible for this little thing. He thinks it was the bunny that went missing, but I still feel like there's no way it could have gotten out. I guess we'll never know. Tommy was ecstatic. Tessa was happy. I was less than enthused. 

Little bunny has since passed away :( Poor little fellah. 

I can say I've walked away from this with two lessons. The first being--do NOT catch wild bunnies. Or any wild animal. Or even a tame animal. Just don't. 

The second being--if for some reason you ignore rule 1 and whatever animal you've caught has been mercifully taken from your care by the power of our Lord, Jesus Christ......do NOT catch it again should the opportunity arise! Just. Walk. Away.

RIP Sally and Buckwheat.