Not Partying On the Strip Tonight…
On the 17th I received the following email…
…trying to figure out how to rescue bunnies living WAY too close to Flamingo Road instead!
If you know someone who can help these bunnies in any way I would be extremely grateful. They are so sweet and their fate is not good if they don’t get help.
I took them food and water tonight and was told to leave the babies there as they are most likely still relying on mom for food (thank you, Stacia, for your advice).
If you or anyone you know can rescue, foster, adopt, etc., please let me know.
The location is 5670 W. Flamingo Road, just east of Jones. I discovered this situation when visiting dentist last week and was told the bunnies had been there for about two weeks. Some of the offices are leaving out water and food, but I didn’t see any tonight.
I emailed and left voice mail for a bunny rescue, House Rabbit Society, and waiting anxiously for their reply.
Thank you,
Sheri
So what do I do, well of course I forward it to my friend Jennifer who is the resident rabbit expert at GRRSN.
A moment later I get a phone call from her, “hey what are you doing?” she says to me, “nothing”, “ya wanna go catch some rabbits?” Sure, I said, Knowing damn well it is nearly impossible to catch a rabbit in an open lot. So I strapped on my “turbo” running shoes and tightened the laces double knotted the bows and we were off!
Driving across town it appeared a nasty thunder and lightning storm was heading our way proving to make our bunny venture just a touch more dangerous and exciting!
Driving across town it appeared a nasty thunder and lightning storm was heading our way proving to make our bunny venture just a touch more dangerous and exciting!
When we arrived at the dirt lot, we couldn’t locate the babies, here is what we saw.
Jen and I started walking the dirt lot looking to see if mom had moved the nest. She had a fishing pole and I had a fishing net and we started poking around all the garbage trying to find them.
It was pretty disgusting and we even discovered a homeless camp set up, fortunately the resident was not home at this time!
I called Sheri and begged her to come help us look, she was in a meeting and could not get there for about another hour.
After a great deal of time shifting through garbage and prickly desert vegetation, we were about to give up and by this time it was sprinkling lightly and you could see the storm moving in at quite a pace. I said to Jen, “This can’t be good, here we are walking around a lightning storm carrying an aluminum fishing net and metal gate!” Probably not the smartest thing to do but heck we were already there.
Turning up nothing at the dirt lot, we headed towards the office complex just adjacent. We turned a corner and spotted three bunnies happily chewing on grass and a nectarine that someone had left them. GAME ON!
We brought out the metal pen fencing and just about this time, a loud thunder clap exploded nearby! Slowly we walked towards the threesome, Jen on one end of the pen and me on the other. Immediately the two adults sprinted off. A three month old who wasn’t quite as savvy, stayed behind. GOT HIM!!! Or so we thought, a moment later, another clap of thunder, this one louder and closer and the bunny burst out of the pen and was off!
The next hour or so was basically two crazy ladies running around an office park as fast as they could trying to catch the bunnies. A crowd started gathering and I assume they were watching us in awe, wondering to themselves how had we refined our expert bunny catching techniques. I even heard a few cars on Flamingo honk their horns, “with a, way to go kinda of honk”. Could have been that they were merely laughing at us but thankfully I was not wearing my glasses so I couldn’t tell. By now we have spotted four and that is not counting the babies.
Finally, Sheri arrives and not long after we got her all caught up to speed on who we had caught, NO ONE! She walks to the dirt lot with a maintenance man to see if they can find the babies. The man starts digging were the babies were last spotted and bingo he finds one baby! Okay one down ten to go. Time invested…two hours!
Meanwhile, the maintenance man departs. Sheri in her designer dress and stileto high heels starts digging feverishly in the now caved in dirt hole that used to be the nursery. She says to me, “do you think I should be worried about sticking my arm into this hole?” I said, “noooo, not unless you are afraid of scorpions or black widows!” And Jen chimes in pleasantly, “or fire ants!” Oh and I almost forgot to mention, by now the homeless man has returned back to his base camp and I think to myself, at any moment he’s gonna yell at Sheri and say, “HEY GET OUT OF MY LIVING ROOM!”
Well not to be outdone by Sheri, Jen and I pursued the bunnies with a new almost manic resolve! Off we went again next door to the office complex. We had a strategy now and immediately herded the first teen baby into a long open-ended sort of brick corridor. Promptly we blocked off one end with the metal pen and armed ourselves with fishing nets. SUCCESS! Got one! Then, using that same technique, we got another!!! I think we chest bumped at this point!
We tried like hell to catch Mom but she was so smart and fast you wouldn’t believe it! I had her in the fishing net four different times and each time, she busted free! AGH! (not my actual word used, but trying to keep this rated G).
About ready to call it, here comes Sheri with six more babies! Total, seven babies out of eight so pretty darn good I’d say. She just couldn’t find the eighth one, I suppose it was probably eaten by a predator, cat, dog hawk, who knows.
Head count nine, Sheri seven – Nancy and Jen two, wha-wha-wha! Jen and I loaded up the precious cargo and headed back to the east side.
Unknown to the two of us, Sheri gallantly stayed behind. I spotted her in the rear view mirror as we pulled away and I have to say, she was quite a sight. Leaning percariously to the left and limping after breaking off a heal of one of her pumps, her hair was all over the map and she was covered in dirt from head to toe.
About an hour after I got home I got a text that mom bunny had been caught! I felt totally defeated after nearly having her in the net four times. It seemed that Sheri just bent over and plink picked her up! Apparently she had come back to the nest looking for her babies and that is when she caught her.
Unknown to the two of us, Sheri gallantly stayed behind. I spotted her in the rear view mirror as we pulled away and I have to say, she was quite a sight. Leaning percariously to the left and limping after breaking off a heal of one of her pumps, her hair was all over the map and she was covered in dirt from head to toe.
About an hour after I got home I got a text that mom bunny had been caught! I felt totally defeated after nearly having her in the net four times. It seemed that Sheri just bent over and plink picked her up! Apparently she had come back to the nest looking for her babies and that is when she caught her.
That just left the one orange long haired rabbit left to be caught and knowing Sheri, (now fondly deemed the crazy bunny whisperer), I just knew that she would catch him. Well a couple days later armed with only a couple of pieces of cardboard and a fishing net, again she scored! Current score, Sheri NINE, Jen and Nancy TWO!
This rabbit now named Pinto was whisked away to the vet to be shaved and while they were at it neutered too. His fur was full of stickers, burs and mats, poor little guy. By the way, this guy gave me a run for my money as well. Turns out he is just a love bug and goes limp in your arms when held.
Since Jen was heading to the vet with Pinto anyways she also took the two teen bunnies with her to have their sex determined. Since babies can get prego at four months we needed to know if they needed to be separated or not. Turns out they were both girls and here is the kicker, there was a mistake made at the vets office and they spayed one of the black ones. So, we were not charged for this little girl, yea!
So, what to do with eleven, yikes! eleven rabbits??? We are looking for adopters and of course a donation of food or money would be very appreciated. So far with one neuter, a shave and food for 11 the bill is about $240.00. If you can even chip in a five or a twenty please contact Jen at: fyrfelyne@aol.com thanks so much!
Below are pictures of the rabbits now, simply adorable.
Since Jen was heading to the vet with Pinto anyways she also took the two teen bunnies with her to have their sex determined. Since babies can get prego at four months we needed to know if they needed to be separated or not. Turns out they were both girls and here is the kicker, there was a mistake made at the vets office and they spayed one of the black ones. So, we were not charged for this little girl, yea!
So, what to do with eleven, yikes! eleven rabbits??? We are looking for adopters and of course a donation of food or money would be very appreciated. So far with one neuter, a shave and food for 11 the bill is about $240.00. If you can even chip in a five or a twenty please contact Jen at: fyrfelyne@aol.com thanks so much!
Below are pictures of the rabbits now, simply adorable.
Saving one life in time will change the world…
By Nancy Wegis
