It very ironic that I have merciless hatred for rabbits these days. I'll get to the hatred part in a minute. Let me start with the "ironic" part first.....
When I was about 8 years old my Grandpa handed my parents money to buy us Grandkids "rabbits" for Easter. Since my Grandpa didn't specify what kind of rabbits, my brother and I assumed "real rabbits" and wore my parents down until they purchased three rabbits from a neighbor of my Aunt's. I'm pretty sure today my Grandpa meant "chocolate rabbits", but he was in his 80s and probably didn't understand very well my brother's and my question of "real live rabbits - really?". He kept saying "yes".
I was a big fan of the movie Bambi and I really was captivated by the character "Thumper" - so I insisted on having a "boy" rabbit so I could name mine Thumper. My sister and brother both got girl rabbits. We were told that no "hanky panky" would transpire because "Popcorn" was "Thumper's" sister and "Cinnamon" wasn't a very friendly rabbit. My dad being the "crafty man" that he is built us a nice big cage and we placed the rabbits inside. After a couple of days we noticed that the rabbits were "fighting" and we had to separate them out by adding chicken wire "walls" between them. Before leaving for school every morning my sister would check on the rabbits, and about a month into having these rabbits, she comes running into the house yelling "I'm a grandma!" Sort of silly statement coming from a 16 year old - wouldn't you say? So we come to find out that Cinnamon had given birth to bunnies. When we came home from school that same afternoon, we come to find out that Popcorn also gave birth to bunnies; however, her babies didn't make it. - I guess it goes to show you how interbreeding isn't such a good idea!
Anyway, after the bunnies matured, we gave away the older rabbits and my parents said we could keep three rabbits - one named Peter, another named Pansy and the third named Sparky. Since they were sibling we figured they wouldn't "hanky pank". I must share how each rabbit got their respective names. Peter, after Peter Rabbit of course - and Peter just looked like a boy! Pansy because there were pansies in the flower garden in our yard and Pansy looked like a girl! Sparky was a crazy springy type rabbit and he got his name because he was a crazy wild rabbit. Well once again, the rabbits were fighting, and we constantly had to separate them when they were out of their respective cages. Sibling rivalry is what we probably thought. Well a month later, to our surprise - Peter, gave birth to her (yes I said Peter) own litter of bunnies. Turns out Pansy was a boy and Peter was a girl. We got things right with Sparky though - he was all boy. It never occurred to us to turn the rabbits over and do a "sex" investigation, although I was 8 so I didn't know any better. Its true what they say about bunnies - they are not only fertile but promiscuous too. So with that being said, my parents decided that we were only going to keep one rabbit from the new litter and the rest of the rabbits were again given away to a farm. The final rabbit was Apricot and she/he - never really checked the sex - was a very sweet rabbit. I'll never forget how sick she/he was and how she/he waited for us to come home from vacation before she "kicked the bucket". No seriously, she was really a sweet rabbit and I have fond memories of Apricot.
I also use to collect rabbit figurines - you know the "china ones". Like real rabbits, mine seemed to multiply infinitely.
Today, I HATE RABBITS! Why? - you might ask! Because ..... when my dog, Zoey, was lame they taunted her. While Zoey would be relaxing in our backyard, the rabbits would hop up and try and get so close to her until she attempted to pounce on them and they'd run like crazy to the other side of the fence, leaving Zoey frustrated and sore. Things got worse after Zoey tore her ACL playing with another dog in our backyard. Trying to keep the rabbits away was next to impossible, but I did my best. Worse yet, when Zoey was 6 months post ACL repair surgery, she went outside on a late January evening, she must have chased a rabbit in the backyard and she blew out the other ACL, rendering her totally lame. And then we had to put her down. I consider the rabbits as accessories to killing my dog. So I would think nothing of taking a shot gun (if I owned one) and taking each and everyone of those little bastards out. In addition, they have eaten Christmas lights on my bushes during the holidays, and they have had a feast on my rose bushes - not to mention the tons of rabbit poop all over my yard and flower beds.
In the past, I could never dream of eating "rabbit stew" but I'm contemplating having a feast on rabbit in the future!
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