Rabbits in my Garden

Earlier today I was watering my garden and in the back corner I noticed something running around. It’s not uncommon to see rabbits chilling out in my back yard, but the fence I put up has always kept them out of the actual garden. I expected the things running around to run away, but not today… No, today there was a baby bunny INSIDE the garden. It was trying to get out the corner, which made it easy to pick up by the scruff of its neck. I started talking to it:

     “You are in so much trouble.”
     “You’re so small you can get in the fence holes I didn’t bother to patch, didn’t you?”
     “Are you why my peppers didn’t sprout?”
     “You know I eat creatures like you? You’re called ‘meat.’ You know that, right?”
     “You’re a pest! I should exterminate you!”

This went on for a few more minutes and (swearing) I let the thing go.

I went back to watering my garden and saw a second baby bunny in there. I had to sneak up on this one because it was hiding under the Chinese cabbage. This time I got a picture:

Unlike the first baby bunny, this one made a lot of noise; so much noise that this full-grown bunny ran out in response:

I realized this was probably the mother. I yelled at it for making things more complicated.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a third baby bunny running around; it was probably just excited mama was there:

I did not pick this one up.

The mom remained still, just sitting there:

I realized this animal must be too big to get through the holes her babies used, and now it wants me to get her third baby out. 

A prey animal had made itself vulnerable to me. I eat meat. I had a desire to kill this animal and eat it, but the neighbors (who definitely heard all the swearing when I let the first bunny go), and in particular the lady next door, would NOT be okay with me slaughtering wild/feral rabbits. Particularly heavy on my mind is my cat (indoor/screenporch/leash only). Callisto will always eat meat. This would be the best free-range grass-fed cat food ever! I would adore the opportunity to slaughter such a fine meal for my pet.

I was standing there so long (just staring at this rabbit) that I called my dad. I expected him to tell me I was crazy and that I should just let the third bunny go and find something else to worry about. My dad said he couldn't tell me what I want to hear, though we did talk about it for a while. I have a habit of pacing while I'm on the phone. At one point I was within 3 ft of the mother. While she looked scared, she didn't move at all.

Still on the phone, I got worn out to the point where I just left. A half-hour later, the mother was still sitting on the lawn. I took this photo from my rear window.

A cat eventually scared the mother away. The cat just wandered back the way it came.

It's dark now, and as far as I know, the third baby bunny is still in the garden. It certainly has enough food in there, and the mother will probably stay nearby. Tomorrow when I water the garden I'll probably just do what I did today: I'll pick the third bunny up, it'll holler, it's mama will come running, I'll let it go, and then I'll just leave this wild/feral warren alone.

I'll also fix the fence.

As an aside, if the city and my apartment-management company are okay with with it, I'm now considering raising a few rabbits for meat, only I won't catch wild/feral bunnies from my garden. I figure domesticated rabbits would be a better suited to cages and my neighbor wouldn't be on my case about cruelty to the native wildlife. We have plenty of basement space we could use in the winter too. I'll file rabbits on the "someday" list, and for now accept some level in hypocrisy in eating meat and letting the garden pests go. I never expected gardening to challenge me morally. Send help.

Have a nice weekend everyone.