The Cottontail Massacre

I had a dreaded feeling in my stomach when I looked over at our beagle who had been curiously sniffing around one of our trees in the backyard. She had something in her mouth. Great, what did animal did she find. A bird? A squirrel? This usually grosses us out to the extent where she can not come inside until she washes her mouth out with soap. She happens to be an annoying licker. I yell at her to “drop it.” It falls to the ground as she starts her guilty walk and rolls on her back in submission. I look at the limp creature and it happens to be a baby bunny. Its eyes are not even open yet. About 10 feet away, I see bunny fur scattered all over the grass. My first thought is that she mauled the mother, but as I investigate the fur came from the rabbit’s burrow that the mother made to keep her liter warm. My 2 ½ year old son is now interested. I show him the burrow and we look at all the baby bunnies sleeping. We then stuff the fur back into the hole and wait for the inevitable. I do my best to set up a barrier around the burrow, but like that is really going to work. It was more of a visual reference to keep my eye on my beagle.

Beagles by the way are rabbit hound dogs. Hunters use beagles to aide in rabbit hunting. What was mother rabbit thinking? Did my beagle talk her into choosing our yard by lavishing the mother rabbit with fine gifts and carrots? (Insert any Michael Jackson analogy here.)

There was nothing I could do. If I moved them they would probably die and if I left them there is no way I could control a beagle’s call in life. I was just worried where the dead bodies might appear in our back yard and was hoping that my son would not find them first.

It happened. It was nighttime. The beagle was let out to do her business. Minutes later, I hear the squeaking cry of the baby bunnies. Their cry for help sounded like those stuffed animals that squeak when you squeeze their belly. I put on my sandals, grabbed a flashlight and headed outside. The beagle came to me immediately. I walked over to the burrow. The sight was freaky. The beagle dug up the hole and 2 feet behind the hole lay four baby bunnies in a perfect row. Execution style. I lay them on a board and dump them over our back fence to join their other fallen brother.

The next day I peaked over the fence to look at the bunnies and they were gone. Either they made a nice snack for a big ugly bird or they decided to become ghosts and haunt our dog. I hope it is the latter as long as she doesn’t bark too much.