Okay for those of you that don't know...me and my 11 year old son was watching my 13 yr olds track practice Monday and he found this baby rabbit that was stuck with it's head between some rocks and it was hurt. So we brought it home and I proceeded to call the wild life rescue people around here to try and find out what to do for the thing cause I haven't had a rabbit since I was a kid and my dog killed it so I don't know what to do for the thing.
Well after they passed me from one person to the next giving me all of these different phone numbers that I needed to call because they couldn't help me, didn't care for rabbits, didn't have room to care for it etc. I finally got a hold of this lady that told me chances are it's back or neck is broken and it is going to die. So if I come and pick it up I am going to put it to sleep.....(I am thinking, oh how compassionate of you, you haven't even looked at it to truly know what is wrong with it and you are already prepared to kill it)
But, she tells me what to do for it and what vegetation to gather up for it and says if I want to keep it over night and see how it is in the morning then by all means do so, and tells me how to build a next for it etc.
So I go out side and piece to gther with sticks and grass and such a next for this thing that I really thought was prolly gonna die anyway, then I go out foraging for food for it. I get it all set up and put it down in my basement. Cause she tells me that I needed to put it in the quietest spot in my home...yadda yadda yadda
She says whatever you do don't handle it and hold it or let the kids pet it and love on it and don't show it off to your friends and such cause the stress of all of that can kill it.........OOPS too late I already did all of that!
Well the next day I go and check on it and the thing can't sit up straight all it can do is lay on it's side and kick like hell with its little feet! Now I am telling you this thing is smaller than the palm of my hand, it is tiny! But it has gotten stronger and at least is resisting me touching it which to me was a good sign because the day before it didn't fight me at all. So now it is acting more like a wild animal.
So I call the lady back and told her what was going on with it. And she suggest that I just have it put to sleep and put it out of its misery...I am like wait a minute it is improving so now you still want to kill it.
So I decide to give it another day, well yesterday after gathering up more food and such for it and keeping it in water and what not it finally got up on all four legs, and it would walk around a bit. I still hadn't seen it hop but it is in a box so wasn't sure it would even try to hop. It wasn't moving any where quickly yesterday but it was up and moving and doing 100% better.
Well I check it today and when I stuck my hand in there to see if I could get it to move it raised it's head up for me and looked at me perked its ears and as soon as I got close enough to touch it....it hopped to the other end of the box.
So I have succesufully saved the life of this small rabbit and intend to release it back into the wild this evening! so it can prolly get run over or shot and eaten knowing my luck but that's ok. Cause I am just too soft hearted to have let it lay there in the beginning and not give it a shot to making babies so they can come and eat my garden...hehe
But it got me to thinking how easily we dismiss life these days, she wasnt even going to give the thing a chance at survival. And it is that way not only with animals but humans as well. Something tragic has to happen like 911 or this VT incident for us to even pause for a moment to think how precious life is...
How sad, yes we have come so far as a people, with technology and resources and blah blah blah, but how far away we have gotten from what we were put here to do, and that is to LIVE life not just exist in it.....
P.S. We released the rabbit back into the wild today and he was so happy to be out in real grass instead of some I picked up...as soon as his feet hit the ground he began to eat and was still eating when I left him.
