Bisque. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Last night, I let my dog Bisque out to ‘go potty’ before heading to bed. When I called her she did not come and I could hear these faint squeals coming from her direction.
Oh, Lord, I thought, what does she have, and rushed back in the house to get a flashlight. As I walked out the back door, the squeals were getting louder. “Drop it,” I said. Bisque just looked at me. As I got closer, I could see that she had a small animal in her mouth. “Drop it, Bisque.”
Chomp, bite, bite, bite, swallow. She’d eaten a baby rabbit. In fact, she’d unearthed a nest that was under the asters that I had not yet cut back and behind a small landscape rose bush.
Silly rabbits had made a nest in the backyard where there’s a dog, for crying out loud. I got the dog back in the house after her late night protein and fur snack. I tucked a tiny rabbit that was still breathing back in the hole and replaced the downy fur and bits of plant that made the nest.
This morning, I discovered a now-dead bunny that I’d overlooked last night. I gently pulled back the nest material and, indeed, the one I tried to save was dead, too.
My friend who lives in the country said I should consider myself lucky…three fewer rabbits in my wildlife population. “Just remember how they chew up your plants when they are grown!,” she said.
I really don’t mind the rabbits. I find that they only nibble on baby or small plants. Last year, I grew lettuces in an Earth Box placed on the ground and nary a nibble.
I know all of this is nature at work , but I do blame the parents for building the nest where there is a dog who’s a digger, no less. Still, it was a bit sad this morning, picking up tiny dead bunnies on a sunny spring day.
I’ve found warrens full of baby rabbits in my strawberry patch and in a row of lettuce. And even though rabbits have eaten a lot in my garden, I couldn’t bring myself to kill them. I called a wildlife rescue service once and they said the mama rabbit would move them every few days, especially if they thought the nest had been touched or discovered. And that’s what happened, a day later, they were all gone.