WOW PET ANGEL

Nutty Bunny Mommy

I noticed a wild rabbit eating the bird seed I put out on the ground for the birds. The rabbit would run away when I got close. It was there the next day and the next. I would talk gently to it while putting seeds out.

I had mixed seed and wanted to see what it liked. After seeing the seeds were out it would come back and eat. I watched from the distance and found it was eating the raw peanuts.

Every day it was there so I stayed by the seeds and it started coming closer. I started throwing raw peanuts to it and it would hop over and eat them. It started getting closer to me. Eventually it was right at my feet.

If I didn't see it, I would call to it. “Where's my bunny! I have some peanuts for you!” Then I would see it. It would hop over close to me for some peanuts.

It was soon spring and time to plant my vegetables. As the garden grew, I noticed there were a couple other rabbits. My bunny was easy to tell from the others because it didn't hop away. I noticed one rabbit playing with the other and figured out that my bunny was a female. I carried my camera and peanuts, of course, taking pictures whenever I saw her.

One day I noticed her beside the deck by a flower bed pulling her fur out and taking grass into the flower bed. I knew she was making a nest.

She gave birth soon after and I would see her going into the flower bed to feed her young. I didn't go near her nest, just watched from the upper deck and took pictures. She got to know and trust me more.

When the vegetable plants got big, I would go out there with the peanuts and camera. I would say, “Where's my bunny.” She would come hopping over to me for peanuts. One day she was eating my beans and I said to her “What are you doing eating my beans? You come and get some peanuts!” She would yawn, have a big stretch, then hop right to me. She would eat her peanuts then go back to the beans. I laughed.

Some mornings when she would come up to the deck looking for her peanuts, I would see her through the patio door and go out to her. If I was already outside, she would come hopping to me. I had to keep a few peanuts in my pocket all the time.

I tried to get her to take a take a peanut from my hand. She came to my hand but would not take it from my fingers. If I put it on the ground for her, she ate it. She loved peanuts so much I began to call her my Nutty Bunny.

As the days went by, she would feed her babies then get up on the lower deck and clean herself. I would be on the upper deck taking pictures of her and her babies. After cleaning herself she

After cleaning herself she would come up the steps to the upper deck for her peanuts. I don't know how often she fed her babies, but I do know she fed them in the evening. That is when I would see her at the nest.

One morning I got up early and looked outside and saw a cat at the bunny's nest. I panicked and ran out. The cat had one of the baby bunnies in its mouth. It saw me and started leaving with it. I went after it, talking softly so it would stop. It did and I got the baby away from it. The baby bunny took his last breath in my hands. I felt so bad but told myself, “that's nature”. Later that morning the cat came back, and I chased it away.

I checked the nest and there were four more babies about three to four weeks old. When I looked into the nest the baby bunnies tried to run. I caught two and put them in a pail. Then thought, “What can I do for them?” They were still nursing so I put them back and watched until Mama came to feed them. She came in late afternoon and fed them.

The next morning, I got up before sunrise and went out to check on them. I found three dead babies and saw one run over to the fence.

I couldn't go after it because the neighbor on the other side of the fence had three Hound dogs. I left it alone and hoped it would stay on our side. It did and I saw the Mama come and nurse it in the evening.

Nutty Bunny Finds Love

One Baby Left

She only had one to feed now. I could see she was full of milk. She would sit by the pond and wait for her baby to come out of the bushes and hop over to feed it. When she was finished, she came to me for her peanuts.

After three evenings of watching them I didn't see her again. My husband drove to the store and when he returned, he said he saw a dead rabbit on the road. It was her. I felt so bad. I had gotten to know a wild rabbit and she got to know and trust in me. A few days later I saw the little white tail of a baby bunny in the yard.

My Nutty Bunny was gone and so were her babies. Thankfully, I have pictures to remind me of our friendship.

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