In the midst of my writing some comments on important military issues before Congress, my dog, Hershey wanted me to let her out in the back yard. I had to stop what I was doing and attend to her.
I let Hershey out and stood there for a minute in the sun. It felt good. As I looked out at the yard, I realized my dog was digging a hole, which she never does. Then I saw it. She had something in her mouth. I told her to leave it. She ignored me and ran to the other side of the yard with me in pursuit. I kept telling her to drop it, leave it, each time my voice got louder. Finally she dropped it.
I bent over and looked carefully at what it was. A mouse? It was about the right size for that. But then I saw the nose. It was a newborn rabbit. While I was looking at it, my dog went back and got another one. This time, my voice was really loud. Leave it! Again the chase. And again, she finally dropped it, at the other end of the yard. This one, like the other one was alive.
I had to get the dog inside before she got any more babies. She did not seem to want to hurt them. She did not bite them. She was actually being gentle. Unintentionally though, she had harmed them by taking them out of their nest.
My dog was so intent on looking at the hole and the other bunnies in it that she was easy to grab by the collar as she stood there transfixed. We were pretty far from the door, so, holding on to her collar, I had to go across the yard, bent over, she is short, jeans almost falling off, glasses slipping off my nose.
Finally she was inside. I was discombobulated. By the time I collected myself it was too dark outside to do anything about the bunnies that were out of the nest or those that were still in the nest, I could not see either. If I rescued them, I would not know what to do with them. So of course, I consulted the internet.
I found out that if the mother was not nursing them, and I had no idea if she was around, there is a special formula one could make and with a dropper, every few hours….etc. I think they were talking about pet bunnies and not wild ones. Or so I told myself.
I must be honest about what was going through my mind. We have no shortage in our neighborhood of rabbits, and they are hard on people’s gardens. Remember the children’s story of Peter Rabbit who was a pest in Mr. McGreggor’s garden? We all sided with adventurous Peter when I was young. I was doing that now. The babies were living creatures, and I was concerned about them. I am no farmer McGreggor! But, as an adult, I do get it that he did not want rabbits to eat his vegetables.
I went to bed with no idea what would await me in the morning. When I put the dog out next morning, it was on a leash so she couldn’t explore the rabbit hole or find the bunnies she had transported. After I took her in, I went out and looked for those lost bunnies, but I couldn’t find them. For one thing, the grass was somewhat overgrown and needed cutting.
I know, this is much ado about nothing, but I have to finish the story. I gave the two young men who help me with yard work an SOS call. I told them about the bunnies and the overgrown grass. They came to my rescue. They cut the grass, put a little white fence around the rabbit hole, and found the missing bunnies I could not see. They had expired. They were too young to survive. One of the men wondered if rabbits have a soul. I said I thought that at least they had feelings. The other man wondered if we should call animal control. I thought not. These two men, strapping football players that they are, had soft hearts. They cared about those bunnies.
In addition to the fence, we built a kind of fortress around the hole so no creature could get in but there was a place where mother rabbit could come and go if she was still around.
Later that day, I had an appointment with my son. When he came to pick me up, he took a quick look in the hole and declared that there were several babies in there and probably the mother. We had to leave but I was glad to know that.
All that day and the next when my dog was out in the yard, she would settle beside the rabbit hole as if protecting the young ones. She was not stalking or barking. I swear she was protecting. I knew she could not get through the fortress so now she was loose again.
On the fourth day, she checked out the hole and walked away. I thought that she had determined that there was no longer any sign of life. But next day, she was on duty again. Is there life again? And so it went. Until one day, the hole was declared empty.
My friend had looked carefully. I couldn’t look as carefully. She declared the hole empty. I asked three times if she was sure. Three times she patiently told me she was.
This story has no dramatic ending, but a reassuring one. It seems the mother took care of the remaining babies until they could all leave the hole. The protection we provided helped. The experience leaves me with some musings. One of them is about the built-in behaviors of species. My dog did not learn to hunt, it came naturally. But so, amazingly, did what I am convinced was an instinct to care for the young. But who knows.
As for instincts, it wasn’t too smart on the mother’s part to build a nest in the middle of my dog’s yard. But we all do dumb things sometimes.
I am left to ponder on our instincts as human beings. I like to think that the capacity to care about living things is built into us. I would like to think that the instinct to do no harm is built in. Something has to happen for it to be driven out of us.
Back to my writing about world affairs. People are dying amid war and famine at the hands of human beings. What has happened to our need to care, to do no harm? I suppose religion is right when it recognizes sin as a reality.
Still my experience tells me that most of us do care and are willing, as we are able, to take whatever action we can to save life. It helps if we are able to see the whole world as our backyard.
We are all connected for better or for worse. Jesus knew. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And who is my neighbor? Even your enemy when they are in need. And who will love you? Even your enemy when you are in need. That is, if we all lean into our best instincts.
And, by the way, was my dog the enemy in the rabbit story? Not really. But since her behavior was causing trouble, she just had to be stopped -without doing her any harm.
Back to my writing. Life can be such a distraction.