3 Bunnies Rabbit Rescue - Webmaster's reply to unusual donation

From cross-hairs to the heart...

This is a story of change, of surprises, and of encouragement for anyone involved in the rescue/rehabilitation/sanctuary of unwanted pets of all kinds. My story just happens to be about rabbits, because I discovered one day years ago that I was a rabbit person - but not just any rabbits, I wanted unwanted rabbits, rabbits that didn't have much of a chance of being adopted to good homes because they had become a representation of the sum of the bad experiences they had with humans, rabbits that were wasting away at no-kill shelters, or rabbits that were destined for euthanasia. So the rabbits referred to here are not the "ambassador" bunnies or any pets that would make one want a rabbit. They are assertive, they are evasive, they spend most of their time hiding even from me, their hearts are hardened and hard to un-break... in short, they are attitude with fur. And teeth.

I have a friend, David D., who I used to work with (it's how we met) and he used to hunt rabbits. He thought they were the tastiest meal, and the hunt was fun, and that there was a thrill to the kill. He used to tell me a story here or there about his hunting escapades until I got the point across that I lived in a different world when it comes to animals, that to me they are a natural part of the surroundings and of our experience and that without them, life wouldn't be much of anything. If I went further on the issue, it was about my feelings about the whole shelter/rescue/abandonment/despair situation, and even on the larger view of the man-made disaster that is extinguishing so many animal lives, domestic or wild, as a result of all of our activities around the globe.

After the layoffs, most of us parted ways but I kept in touch with a couple people, and Dave was one of them. So, naturally, he would visit from time to time. There was comfortable enough seating for 2 or maybe 3 people in the living room, and the whole arrangement of the public area of my apartment was clearly dedicated to the housing and luxurious accommodations for animals (I have 2 pairs of rabbits and anywhere from 4 to 18 hamsters, depending on the needs and accidental pregnancies and litters of the little ones who were lucky enough to be rescued, but somewhere along the way they were not properly sexed and thus, male and female got their chance, and I got the results.

I decided that whenever Dave visited, I would have him give out raisins to the bunnies - this was intentional on a few levels: as I would with anyone else, I'd give them their best opportunity to make friends with the rulers of my world, and in Dave's case, I'd get him to experience bunnies as something other than targets and meals.

Dave got more curious about rabbits, so I pointed him to the 3bunnies.org website, where a lot of things are explained for beginners, and a lot of good information to get a basic but far-reaching understanding rabbits. Included also, even though they will give me vivid eidetic nightmares that will last forever from a single viewing, are links to some videos and websites devoted to exposing just what miserable lives some animals must endure (mainly rabbits, but some other animals as well). These sites show you what you don't see and never think about - the poor collection of souls that go through those places and if they did have any self-awareness, all they would know is that they were doomed. The animals who are raised for food or their fur, or any reason other than to give them a decent life as someone's friend, are lives we'll never know, they endure a misery that few of us could endure, and they live in conditions that would drive anyone insane. As humans and as the apex predator on this planet, we view ourselves with a whole different perspective than we view everything else.

The net effect of having him see the bunnies in action, communicating with me and making their demands and generally acting like bunnies, and also of his surfing our website and reading some of the information and watching some of the videos we link to, was that he could no longer consider hunting rabbits. That, then, evolved into a repulsion for hunting any animal for sport or even for food. He started to see what I saw - that simply because they have fur and walk on 4 legs instead of two, it meant nothing about the presence of something far greater than the sum of its parts - many of you would just call it a "soul" but whatever you choose to call it, as far as I'm concerned, I have the same thing, with the added curse of enough self-awareness to know that someday I will die, and to question why I might be here (as if there need be an explanation). The animals got to (and basically had to) live more in the moment, but look into the eyes of any animal who will calm down enough to maintain eye contact with you, and you'll see it. If you're reading this website, then you probably already know there's something more to our furry friends than what's on the surface - a lot more.

Dave was emotionally tougher than I, and watched to completion videos on how rabbits are raised commercially, as nothing more than bodies to be used for our needs. Then one day he told me about watching these videos, and said "I won't ever be able to eat rabbit meat again". I reminded him that cattle and chickens are in the same bind, but neither he nor I are vegetarians so we both straddle the dichotomous line of having both the guilt of eating the meat of such tortured animals, but eating them anyway.

He also managed to get his mother to swear off rabbit meat after telling her what he saw about the conditions these animals are forced to endure, and I assume he also told her enough about me as well, but I don't know, I never asked. His father is still old-school and likes to hunt, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I'd influence two people to never again eat rabbit.

So I had taken a friend down a path where he could see something from a different angle, and the result was more than I could have hoped for - he went from being rabbit hunter to rabbit sympathizer. I celebrated the simple fact that I had made such an impact, and it gave me even more hope. Then the real surprise came.

The other day, Dave asked me if I thought a donation of $100 would help 3 Bunnies. I explained some of the costs involved in the rescue and rehabilitation efforts, the money spent on simple things like food and hay and everything else. In short, I said "Are you kidding? Of COURSE it would help!!". So, he sent the donation, along with this letter which you can read here:

Click here to read his letter.

It was like I had lifted a veil I didn't even know was there. I had hoped that at least the next time he hunted down a rabbit, he thought just for a moment about the critters in my apartment, and just keep that wider perspective on things. Instead, I had made him really think about it, to the point where he had yet another surprise.

At the time of this writing, he is looking at one of the rooms in his apartment, which doesn't get much use beyond some storage and is just generally a small bedroom. He's looking at it in terms of it being a home for one rabbit, or perhaps, a bonded pair of rabbits. He's looking at the room and simply thinking "how can I turn this into a wonderful playground for some rabbits?". He spent some time asking me some very serious, directed, and purposeful questions about rabbit care, bonds, and enough different aspects of how to properly provide for such an animal that I actually think he's serious about it.

Karma is a funny thing, and those that truly understand the saying "what goes around, comes around" and all of its implications are very lucky indeed. Those who live by their understanding of that saying are some of the most genuine people I've ever met. I'm not sure if Dave was trying to clean his karma a little bit, or if the simple realities that exist and that we all deal with finally made him choose to be different in his experience of his world.

How did I become friends with someone who hunted the very animals I loved so much? Who knows... but through that friendship, he is no longer that person.

Dave F.

Webmaster@3bunnies.org

There is no greater joy than ending a life of suffering
Without ending a life