Late last night–well, technically, very early this morning–Cooper had an emergency. His belly is so off most of the time that this isn’t a rare occurrence. We keep him baby-gated in our room because if he has free rein instead of waking us up when he’s having an emergency, he sneaks off and goes. With the gate up, he paces around until we get up and rush him outside.
And rush him outside I did! Well, sort of…
First, I had to get a flashlight and check the yard for these guys:
Poor Cooper. He waited (im)patiently while I checked, then dashed out as soon as he got the all-clear.
It started a couple weeks ago when I was working in the garden and noticed an odd pile of dog-toy-stuffing-fuzz and grass clumped together between the Swiss chard and romaine lettuce. John reached to clear it from the garden and OOPS! A pile of ping-pong-ball bunnies wriggled around underneath. We put the nest material back in place and watched. Several days later, some bunny ears poked out, and the pile of grass bopped around as the bunnies pushed and shoved each other around in the soon-to-be-too-small nest.
We put up a small garden fence, not enough to truly keep the dogs out if they were motivated, but enough to create a psychological barrier. The mama bunny came by on and off throughout the day–a definite helicopter mama!
So, for the past couple weeks, we’ve been on BUNNYGATE… watching for the little ones to emerge and start doing their “test hops” and exploring. We’ve been checking for them or for the mama every single time the dogs have had to go out. Not super convenient for a wee hours bathroom emergency. We’ve been checking their growth and progress several times a day. They are tiny, and they totally blend in with their surroundings.
Plus, some bugs have been attacking our veggies. We whipped up our homemade pet-friendly insecticide and sprayed the other two gardens but didn’t want to spray this one, our greens garden, for fear that the mama wouldn’t return because of the smell or something. So, our kale is a goner… Anyway, over the last few days, they’ve been hopping around, making me increasingly anxious! I called a wildlife rehabilitation center to ask if, now that they’re mobile, I could move them outside the fence, but they said that wasn’t a good idea, that they would hop away for good on their own once they were ready. So, we’re still checking for them every time the dogs need to go out.
Unfortunately, one of the five bunnies inexplicably perished. We found him under our hose reel, and though he was completely intact–as in, not snagged by any sort of predator–he was gone. Not sure what happened. The other four are very mobile and hopping on their own, so I’m hoping that they’re ready to fly the coop, so to speak, this week. Once they’re gone for good, we’re going to wrap chicken wire along the base of our fence so that this doesn’t happen again. It’s been very stressful monitoring this dog/bunny situation!
Between the bunnies and the robin’s babies hatching on our front porch, we’re practically running our own little wildlife center.
Oh we have little and big bunnies in our yard also, thanx to Alcatraz we nevers can get them, although us as in pugs, doubtful would just want to play and play wif them.
stella rose
We don’t have anywhere for a next, but I am sure something is coming in from under the neighbors fence, because every time Milah goes out, she sniffs the lawn in just particular places like she is tracking something. It could be chipmunks, but there really isn’t anything that interesting in our little yard…..
Sorry you lost a bunny. You’ve done a lot to give them a good chance. You are a true friend to wildlife!
Oh you poor thing. Not just with Cooper and his emergencies, but having to be on BunnyGate. Here’s hoping the little guys are moving along in pretty quick fashion!
I know what a pain that is having to curtail your fur baby to save the bunnies. My problem is the opposite. I have to monitor Honey (my Shih Tzu) when she goes in the back yard. We have barred owls and hawks in the neighborhood. While she’s too big to carry off, they could still do some serious damage.
I’ve enjoyed your FaceBook posts that Flea has shared. As much as Cooper would love a good chase, kudos for protecting the bunnies.
Awww! Last summer, we had a momma fox and two fox kits on our property. I loved watching them.
In the frenetic-ness of the past couple weeks, I’ve fallen behind in many things: responding to your thoughtful comments and emails, reading and commenting on other blogs, exercising, and many, many more things. But I haven’t stopped BUNNYGATE! 🙂 I’m please to report that the remaining four bunnies have moved (hopped?) on to other bunny adventures. If we can catch a break in the rain over the weekend, we’ll be installing wire along the base of our gate to prevent this from happening again! Thanks for all the well-wishes!
We had bunnies too but the nest was not in our yard (I couldn’t find it anyway) Sadly one of the babies was attacked by the dog next door. My neighbor was so sad but i told her, “it’s instinct, Toby wasn’t being cruel. My Raven doesn’t seem to care if bunnies come and go in our yard, so they are relatively safe here. I still see one or two race across the yard at dusk. Nor sure if it is Mama or maybe a baby that has grown.
You’re right–it’s totally instinct, not something to get mad about, though I’d MUCH prefer my guys not get one! How sweet that Raven doesn’t care. What a sweet pup!