It is not often that one gets to rescue an Easter bunny especially if you are Jewish. But today, on Good Friday, I was part of a trio of folks who performed an unexpected animal rescue and helped save a tiny bunny from a foraging neighborhood cat.
Lucy, a street smart orange outdoor cat who lives around the corner came by to visit my husband this afternoon. She wanders the neighborhood and has managed to avoid cars, scooters, dogs and bikes for the several years since her owner died. She lives with the late owner’s daughter who has several indoor cats of her own and doesn’t seem to pay much attention to Lucy. Everyone knows Lucy and she visits when she is in the mood. My husband and she have a relationship where he sometimes lets her come into our house when I am not around.
Today she came by to show him a tiny baby bunny that she was carrying in her mouth. So young that its eyes hadn’t even opened yet. He was able to get the poor rabbit away from Lucy with what appeared to be minimal injury. I had just returned home when he called me over to see the tiny baby who was panting rapidly and lying very still in his gloved hand.
I immediately ran inside to get a box filled with towels to put the bunny in and a cover to keep it warm. It moved its little head slightly when I touched her( an unfounded guess) and her tiny heart beat visibly through her thin body. I placed a call to a friend who is an animal rescuer knowing that she would know who to call. And she did. Within thirty minutes of finding the poor animal, she was headed to the local rehabber about half an hour later.
Our son’s wonderful girlfriend Jen took the bunny in the box seat belted to the warmed passenger seat. The rehabber told us that responding quickly was important because cat saliva can be toxic to bunnies. Jen delivered the tiny patient to the rehabber who noticed that there was a puncture wound from Lucy’s tooth along the bunny’s spine.
It is too soon to know about the rabbit’s condition but the rehabber promised to text with an update. Hopefully the injuries are minor and the baby can be treated, released and returned to the outside where she belongs.
The irony of three Jews rescuing an Easter bunny is funny but poignant. The world is in chaos and there seems to be little interest in our fellow man as we choose sides and refuse to compromise yet this tiny creature had three people drop everything and attend to the helpless bunny. Maybe it is a reminder that we all need to pitch in and make it a safer place for all living beings.
Today we performed a mitzvah.
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