So it was more than a little weird when I got three e-mails today from three different people, all criticizing my care of the bunny. Two of them also criticized the teacher's care of the bunny, which I thought was odd, since I barely mentioned my daughter's teacher in the column.
My guess is that some bunny lovers all got together and decided to bury me under an avalanche of good intentions and bunny-raisin' tips. Which, naturally, is all about a week and a half too late, as I took the bunny back to school and don't expect to have any more bunnies in my house any time soon.
Here's a sampling of what they said:
I was quite disturbed by your article "I don't like the way that bunny is looking at me." You should learn more about what you write about. Pepe was obviously not spayed or neutered or properly handled, otherwise the poor thing would not "stink" or be so intimidated. I really discourage teachers from having bunnies, or any animal for that matter, in the classroom unless it is the teacher's own pet.
and
Clearly, the manner in which your daughter’s classroom bunny is being kept at school is completely wrong. That poor bunny is not experiencing an appropriate quality of life. Stop picking on defenseless animals and pick on someone your own size.
and
As a bunny owner, I'm concerned about a number of statements in your column. To be fair to you, it does not seem that the teacher prepared your family very well for taking care of Pepe. It seems that the only thing the teacher told you was to make sure Pepe had some exercise every day. Given that he was in what sounds like a small cage, I'm glad you were responsible and let him run around.
You get the idea. I'm glad there are people in this world who care about bunnies. I'm not one of them. Sorry.
3 comments:
I actually had a bunny. It was a miniture Dutch rabbit, or Dutch Dwarf or some other small sounding name.
He was cute. He also bit...really hard! I kept him outside in a cage that was built off the ground, and we packed with straw and wrapped in plastic during the summer.
During the day, I'd let him run around the yard, which he eventually learned to stay within the boundaries.
I'm not scolding you on your treatment of the bunny, but I haven't actually read the column, yet.
You may hear back from me.
I had a bunny as a kid. I also had a cat and a dog. The bunny was the most boring.
I remember take home a pet weekends in pre-school. I can't imagine the pressure my parents felt when I brought a hamster home.
Oddly enough, I think of you almost every time I see the bunnies hopping around our neighborhood. Occasionally I think about planting something around the outside of our fence. Being as my family has a dig-happy beagle, having to plant anything within the fence is pointless as well.
I think perhaps the bunny folks that responded so late are as shy and timid as their bunnies. Or perhaps they too caught that nasty stomach bug that's going around and didn't get a chance to play catch up till recently.
Either way, at least it's finally starting to resemble spring outside so that the squirrels and bunnies are free to roam and duplicate themselves as they wish. o_O
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