Rest In Peace - Chip

Rest In Peace - Chip

This is a post I never thought I would do, but here I am.

I awoke this morning to find Chip lying dead and mauled in the yard, the rabbit hutch door wide open, and Alan, Alora, and Dutchess all missing. 

Not exactly how you want to spend your morning, burying a beloved pet, and chasing rabbits all over your yard, but that is how I spent my morning none-the-less. 

We searched high and low for the three missing bunnies, we finally found Alora and Dutchess underneath the hutch, hiding for dear life. That morning we'd found Rusty trying to dig them out. Needless to say that weren't too keen on coming out any time soon. 

Meanwhile, the gate had been left open, so we thought perhaps Alan had escaped through the gate. However, we found him huddled behind a tree in the corner of the yard. He didn't flinch when I came up to him, I bent down and gently scooped him up into a gentle embrace. Upon inspection, he had two bite marks on his neck, and several more on his rump. He looked to be a bit in shock.

Back to under the hutch...

You wouldn't believe the stuff we tried to get them out from under that hutch! Let's just say we tried many, many things.

One of our brilliant ideas included opening up their nighttime cages and scattering carrots all over the floor, and leaving the doors open so perhaps they'd hop inside and we could nab them. We noticed when they came out from underneath the hutch they would try and get into their cages, so we thought maybe they'd go right in. 

We had somebody perch on the edge of the hutch, ready to jump off quickly and shut the door on them. We had several failed attempts but we finally succeed in catching Alora. Then about an hour and a half later, and lots of blood, sweat, and tears we caught Dutchess in a net. Of course that was only after I tried to crawl underneath the hutch (nearly got stuck in the process), scare him out using a hoe, and lots of other tricks. But we finally caught all three of the survivors and carried them inside to calm down and stock up on carrots.

Later on that day I had a chance to check each bunny for injuries, and it looks like they all have a scar or two to show for it, but I think Alan got the worst of it, poor darling. He spent most of the day huddled up sleeping.

 I found them all nestled together sleeping, and later saw Alora licking Alan's wounds. They are so sweet and affectionate. I had just refilled their water bottles and given them some fresh alfalfa to munch on, I had my face right next to the cage door, Alora came up, sniffed in my face and gave me a kiss right on the nose. 

Carolina helped me dig a grave for Chip, and lay her to rest. She will be greatly missed, but I know she is in a much better place now, scampering around lush, green pastures with all the other sweet bunnies that went on before her. 

Rest In Peace Chip, you will be sorely missed.

I hope your Saturday had a better beginning than mine.

Blessings - 

~ Aspen