Thursday, August 13, 2009

A Night On the Town.


Amelia listens with one ear to the tales of other rabbits

Tuesday night or rather Wednesday morning I didn't get to bed until 2:45 a.m., as a person who attempts to lead a very moderate lifestyle this was completely out of character. It must have been an emergency or something very important, some sort of life or death matter to keep me up so late. In fact such was the case. Tuesday night Rabbit Haven volunteers were out capturing rabbits from the Moreland Park site in San Jose CA, and I was one of 14. Rabbit Haven is not the only organization involved in trying to help these rabbits. Save A Bunny, Rabbit Rescue Alliance and Team Fur have been doing awesome work to save the bunnies. If I forgot anyone please forgive and correct me, it was unintentional. Many rabbit had been rescued but the situation was getting more desperate. We had been hearing reports of teenagers shooting and chasing the rabbits, capturing them and maiming and torturing them. These almost adults must be really unhappy and confused to feel better after hurting a rabbit. There have been adults with dogs setting the dogs loose to chase the rabbits. This was life or death for the rabbits, we had to get as many out as we could.

Tyler and Sydney remember their own early life in the streets

I drove over two other rabbit people from the Santa Cruz area. Everyone was issued an ID card and an orange vest. After an orientation, that included a Lego model of the park and surrounds, we broke up into teams. Since I had the longest thinnest arms present I was part of the nest diggers. Long arms are needed to reach down the holes and check for the nest. I tried to be useful in other ways since we didn't find any nests. At this point the rabbits left are the survivors, they are fast sneaky ones, this is Darwin's dream and our nightmare. There are various structures under which the rabbits hide, sometimes you can stick a pole under and flush the rabbit out the other side into the XPen that has been cleverly placed, then someone has to quickly take a piece of cardboard and close off the exit. This works sometimes, but more often than not the rabbit underneath will evade the pole. Even food as a lure has only a limited appeal to these remaining rabbits. There were quite a few rabbits in the baseball and soccer fields adjacent to the park. In the open the rabbits have to be herded by the two foots into a U shaped XPen that is then snappily closed behind the bun. Add to all this that it is dark and we are working by flashlight and lantern. One of the structures in the park was large storage container under which many rabbits had made their home. Next week the school wants to remove it and fill in all the rabbit holes, regardless of whether there are rabbits present or not. The night we were there the only rabbit was a big white rabbit and a dead rabbit. Many times the teams returned to try to get the white rabbit out, and never was there any luck. I saw it's nose, just once. One team did get the dead rabbit out. We were collecting all rabbits, dead or alive. Live rabbits were placed in carriers and taken for assessment by a team member who had a set-up in the back of a camper. These rabbits received a dose of Revolution for the fleas and ticks that are prevalent. After assessment they were ferried to a foster site. The deceased went a pet crematorium. There were a few tense moments when large groups of teens came walking by, but once they saw us with our orange vests and rabbit nets they figured we were were nuts and dangerous and left. By 1 a.m. we had caught 11 rabbits and found 4 dead ones, it seemed time to pack up. On our way back from the fields someone spotted the big white rabbit who had jumped out of the Xpen and was running around the park; possibly upset at the removal of the dead rabbit who could have been it's mate. Determined as Ahab after his white whale a team pursued this Lagomorphic great white and in the end caught her; 12 rabbits rescued.
May she and all the Moreland rabbits find caring and living homes.

The Spots want to tell the Moreland rabbits that there will be plenty of hay from now on

19 comments:

PJ said...

Firstly, I'm very sorry to hear about the demise of the two rabbit people from the Santa Cruz area. Really, D, you must be wabbit cwazy to dwive ovew them like that.

Secondly, hooray! Finally, you got to execute the rescue plan!!!! I am very sorry to hear that not all rabbits were rescued but I hope someone has blessed the site in anticipation of next week. Much healing will be needed.

Lastly, you deserve a night out every now and then. I hope you hoisted a cold one at home to celebrate (it could be anything - maybe a fermented soda??). And I did not know that The Spots had street cred. Amelia is getting quite an education. You're a GOOD bunmum.

PJ said...

PS Is that a dewlap Ms Amelia is sporting?

d. moll, l.ac. said...

PJ-Yes, it is unfortunate, bad proofing has decreased our numbers. I believe it is the plan for Savabun to rescue on Friday night and we will go in on Saturday if there is anybun left. Yes, that is a mini dewlap, we are waiting to see just how big it gets!

Paula said...

Nice! We want stats and before and afters for sure!

RG said...

What a story ... thankfully there are places to take care of the rescues ... it must have been a mad scramble out there .. but a mission to remember and talk about year after year!

For us, Baxter, Chico, Zoey - all rescued and where would they - and us - be if they weren't.

Alice said...

talk about fighting the good fight! d!!! you are remarkable. what a tale, thank you and thank everyone so much for helping them, such courage and devotion, such a constant inspiration. also thank you for letting us feel like we were right there with you heroines and heros. vive la long skinny arms and the brave woman who puts them so selflessly to such great use!

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Thank you for the good work you do! Poor bunnies. I wish there were a way to make them understand when one is trying to help.

Crafty Green Poet said...

well done on rescuing so many of the bunnies! I'm sure they'll all find good homes. Anya was a rescue bunny....

tlchang said...

So many adventures the last couple of weeks. Best of luck with your continuing integration and ongoing rescue?

Hugs to your spots...

d. moll, l.ac. said...

PJ-stats on the dewlap or the rescued bunnies or the number of rabbit people I have driven over?
RG-you are king of rescues.
A-so many people are helping and kind and good!
BG-Although is seems like a scary scramble catching them, many are actually calm later during their inspection, and cuddled and the fosters are taking quite well to their new life style!
CGP-hooray for rescues, in a sense all well cared for rabbits are rescues.
TLC-adventures in the bunny world, yes, an integration post is upcoming.

Christina said...

Thank you so much for caring about those bunnies. "Sigh", I dont understand people, I really dont. Who would get off on shooting an animal with a bb gun or watching their terror being chased by dogs. Has anyone written a letter to the paper or tried to publicly shame the school? I would love to be hiding in a tree out there some night and pop one of those SOB's with a paint ball gun. I wonder if they would enjoy it. I know those bunnies and I would. Sorry, I know that's not the right thing but its how I feel. Just seen too much bunny abuse.

Paula said...

Dewlap, if you please.

Junkstylediva said...

Did the bunny people you ran over survive? I had no idea there are people who rescue bunnies at parks. I didn't know there were bunnies in parks. Thanks for saving these lovely creatures! Inge

Mary-Laure said...

I can't bear to think of animals suffering, it just drives me crazy...

Gretel said...

This is just awful...it sounds totally insane. Big bunny hugs to all the caring volunteers.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

JSD-yes, they popped right back up like bobo dolls, most amazing, as if it never happened. There are a number of rescue organizations.
C-I was ready to do whatever was necessary to protect the buns on my watch.
ML-You can go less crazy, many bunnies are rescued!
PG-Sweet, hugs received and passed on.

Anonymous said...

Great job D :-)

RoadBunner said...

Thank you for all your hard work to save those bunnies! If they could talk, once they realize what wonderful thing has happened, they would thank you, too :)

Annette Tait said...

Excellent work Diana!!!
hopefully the sprinters will be safe from bad-ass-small-brain-no-brain-human-too-dumb-to-think s.

What is the human over-population coming too? What happened to playing hop-skotch and dominos?

and hopefully the sprinters will be rescued soon and go to their forever filled with hay and food homes