It was Saturday at lunch when I heard the frightful news; a bunny had fallen down a hole. Slightly distressed by this situation and very curious as to what species of rabbit was holed up, I leapt into action to hatch a plan. My ideas for how to rescue this stranded lagomorph multiplied like rabbits. Finally I came to the end of my McGuyveresque rabbit trails and decided to lower a bucket into the 9’ deep hole that will be next summers outhouse at the Holden campground. To sweeten the deal for our imperiled pal, we tossed in a little lettuce to the bottom of the bucket. We also brought a long stick to persuade the startled critter into the bucket if the lettuce didn’t do the trick. When the two village four-year-olds heard about the bunny down on its luck they were hopping with excitement to help. So we drove out for the rabbit rescue with the boys, dad, and grandpal. We lowered the bucket, gently tipped it on its side to reveal the scrumptious bunny bites, but the little feller wasn’t interested, so a series of taps with a stick got our newly named friend, “cutie” in the bucket, and our rabbit rose from the depths of despair and death to the light of life, liberty and lettuce.
What emerged in our bucket was a young snowshoe hare, in the midst of metamorphosis from a brown summer coat to a wondrous white winter wardrobe. After a brief photo op, and several reminders to not kick the bucket to the kids and the bunny, we tipped the bucket over so Cutie could continue cavorting in this beautiful place. He didn’t budge, instead our deer friend contendly chewed his lettuce from inside the bucket, so we took more pictures and marveled at the giant feet on this winter wanderer. Eventually we unceremoniously got him out of the bucket and watched him hop back under the outhouse. We covered up the hole after verifying that the rabbit didn’t need a repeat rescue and were on our way, with cutie returned to his rabbitat. And thus ends the story of our bunny saved by a hare.
BVL
