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  • A Bunny Birthday

    July
    22
    2007

    As many of you know, we rescued some baby bunnies this past spring – one of them had a weed-whacking injury so we thought it best to hold them for a week until that one could heal. They did well, we didn’t handle them – left them in the garage with food, hay, water, and shelter – and then released them into our brush pile the following weekend.

    Two of them have hung out with us, not too domesticated but also not very afraid, either. The one with the injury was very sociable, she let me get pretty close, and she always made herself comfortable. You could tell she didn’t feel threatened around us. That really made me feel good, considering the expense and extent we’ve gone to to have some security on our property.

    A couple of weeks ago, I noticed their absence. I saw them a couple of times across the street and knew they would be safe there, so I wasn’t too concerned. A few days ago, I spotted a new baby bunny. This one is just a few weeks old, and he’s alone. He’s doing well in our garden, eating up a lot of my flowers (which I’m getting used to, now) and he has a cousin. A lighter shade of brown – a month or two older, and very skittish. I’m happy to have bunnies around again, of course! (Just call me Snow White.)

    Well. Today we were doing some yard work and when we finished up, we sat on the patio and were just relaxing. I noticed Zorro-girl bolt through the yard and over to the flowerbed, where I thought I saw her starting to munch on my chrysanthemum. I went over to her, and saw her buried beneath it:

    wild brown bunny birthing' class=
    I asked her not to eat my plants, but she completely ignored me. My plant was shaking from her movement and I thought she must be ripping off a big piece. I also thought “hm. She’s completely ignoring me. I wonder if she’d mind if I just pet her a little bit?”

    So I did.

    wild brown bunny birthing' class=
    Wow, she’s soft. I pet her a few times, and she didn’t care. I asked her if she was ok. She looked at me funny.

    Then I thought, “man, she doesn’t even care that I’m petting her. This is so cool. I wonder if she’d mind if I picked her up?” So I moved my camera to the side and picked her up. She let me hold her, and I felt a bump. Woah, I said to her “honey are you pregnant?!” and she jumped out of my arms. She promptly went over to the other side of that little log and you know what she did?

    She popped out four baby bunnies. That’s what she did. And I got to watch. And I coulda cried.

      
    One of them kept rolling down the hill, so she let me put him back underneath her. He kept rolling, so I told her I’d help her move them back under the plant, and I did, and she went right in after them and continued caring for them. I sat and watched her nurse her new babies, and thought – this is incredible. What an amazing thing to get to witness – this bunny who was injured that we rescued and hoped would survive well in the wild when we released her is now a momma of four, right in the same backyard she grew up in.

    Awwwww. :sniffles: Does this make me a grandbunny?

    {19 Comments}

    1
    Angel said,

    OH MY GOSH!!! That is just TOO COOL! Me & my kids loved the pictures 🙂 Congrats, GrammaBunny!

    Our goats always gave birth when we weren’t home. Hmph.

    7.22.2007 @ 8:17 pm
    2
    Leanne said,

    Thanks for sharing, Angel! I’m glad your kids got to see, too. I’m just tickled, of course, and keeping my eye on momma to make sure she gets plenty of extra carrots while she’s nursing.

    :bunny:

    7.22.2007 @ 8:44 pm
    3
    Caren said,

    Amazing! As a pet-bunny owner, I am really impressed! Great photos!

    7.22.2007 @ 11:07 pm
    4
    Elsewhere said,

    No, it makes you a guardian angel. What a wonderful story! Did your bun make a nest to keep the babies warm?

    7.23.2007 @ 1:49 am
    5
    Debbie said,

    Girl you have the coolest things go on in your yard. We are in Pulaski this week and have I got some squirrel photos for you. They love Ma’s bird feeder and do all kind of acrobatics to get to them. I will try to post them in the next day or so. I have finally after 3 days gotten a line to the modem. I am on line again!

    Pet the bunny for me! You lucky bunny grandma!
    :meow:

    7.23.2007 @ 6:44 am
    6
    pamibe said,

    OHMY! You DO have the most amazing things in your yard!! … and the pictures are sooo cool…

    …must pick my jaw up off the floor… :jawdrop:

    7.23.2007 @ 7:20 am
    7
    Jenny said,

    Isn’t it amazing what we see when we slow down and stop for a minute? Thanks for sharing your photos.

    7.23.2007 @ 8:32 am
    8
    Robin said,

    Awww sweet.

    7.23.2007 @ 8:54 am
    9
    Jennifer said,

    That is just incredible. I would love to witness such a thing, and the bunny is so unprepared. Did you make them a ‘nest’ so did the mom?? Are the babies still alive.

    7.23.2007 @ 9:32 am
    10
    clara said,

    Again Leanne, this is why people get eaten. Promise me that when you come to visit you’ll leave the wildlife alone! Ours have bigger teeth! Very sweet. Hugs, clara

    7.23.2007 @ 9:48 am
    11
    Leanne said,

    Momma bunny did indeed prepare a nest, where the babies appear to be very well nestled and concealed. Momma continues to hang out in our yard, munching away at my greens – so it looks like all is well.

    🙂

    7.23.2007 @ 9:52 am
    12
    Leanne said,

    P.S. Clara, I can’t make you any guarantees on that one – other than that I won’t go after anything bigger than I am.

    😛

    7.23.2007 @ 9:54 am
    13
    taba said,

    oh how sweet!! she’s gorgeous! and her babies are adorable! what a touching experience! :bunny: thanks for sharing!

    7.23.2007 @ 10:05 am
    14
    Tommi said,

    How cool is that! Congrats on the quads!! They are so cute! AWW. I hope they all do well, and It truely is an amazing story right from the start! :clapping:

    7.23.2007 @ 11:13 am
    15
    YellowRose said,

    I love it!! What an awesome experience! We have bunnies in our yard too, and I look for them everyday….they become a part of the landscape. So neat you saw the birth….I think I’d cry.

    7.24.2007 @ 10:47 pm
    16
    Marcia said,

    What an amazing experience, you are blessed to have experienced it!

    7.26.2007 @ 12:54 pm
    17

    […] Wildermuth’s blog, Artist by Nature – only long enough to tell you to rush over there to read her story of witnessing the first of four baby bunnies and to see pictures of the four newborn bunnies. The story is wonderful, and if you click on the […]

    7.26.2007 @ 1:02 pm
    18
    carmen said,

    Wow! What an experience for you! No wonder the poor bunny wouldn’t move, she was in labor. I wouldn’t want to move either. 🙂

    7.27.2007 @ 9:18 am
    19

    Oh what a wonderful story! Our pet rabbit died recently, so I’m particularly moved by bunny stories at the minute!

    7.27.2007 @ 9:30 am

    Sorry, comments are now closed.


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