It was so sad . . . .

[Sapphire Silk]

This weekend I'm dog sitting for Evil Empryss while she's out of town with the Evil family. I brought the dogs over to my house for a few hours today because I have a large, fenced back yard and they can run and play freely.

Goldie is an older Carolina dog. She's gotten fairly sedate in her old age, though she's one heck of a wrestler.

Copper is a young Carolina dog, about 18 months old. He's a knucklehead. Lots of energy, not much common sense. He's had a thing about digging up snakes in EE's backyard for awhile now, possibly some rabbit warrens as well.

While the dogs were playing in my yard, I went inside to work on some laundry.

It got quiet. Too quiet. I went to check. Copper didn't come right away when I called. So I go outside to see what he's up to. He comes from around the back of my shed, and I can see little brown legs dangling from his mouth.

I run outside and the legs disappear. For a moment I think he's glombed down whatever it was he was after. Then I see it on the grass; a little brown baby bunny. Copper found a rabbit warren in my backyard somewhere (rabbits are all over the place in my neighborhood). It was still alive.

I didn't know what to do. I pick it up, find a box in the garage and bring it in the house. I call a friend of mine who's a vet, but she didn't answer. I call MY vet, get the emergency line and she gives me the name of a wildlife rehab. I call them and leave a message.

My vet friend Cassie calls back but says there's not much she can do. The bunny was alert and moving around . . . but I could see the back legs were not moving. I'm pretty sure Copper broke its back. The wildlife refuge called back; they don't take injured animals, but he recommended an emergency vet who would and wouldn't charge me.

So I took the little bunny there. He seemed more active, and I think he might have been moving his back legs a bit.

The tech said they'd do their best. But odds are, the bunny had to be humanely euthanized.

I'm very sad

[MoonCat]

Aww crap. That is sad.

[Gilhelmi]

I know it is sad, but in another way it is the normal cycle of life. I was raised a farm kid, so I have a deep appreciation for animals, as both companion and food (even for the same animal).

I have even been considering raising rabbits as livestock. They are a small animal that has surprisingly good meat for their size. I really do not want to come off as insensitive, I am sorry if I do. But like dogs and cats are eaten in Asia, many Asians find it sacrilege to eat cows (Hindus mainly).

[Sapphire Silk]

It's one thing to raise animals knowing you're going to use it for food. The plan is to kill the animal quickly and cleanly.

And for wild animals, the predator prey cycle is normal living and dying.

But Copper is a housepet who is well fed and does not need to hunt for food. He tore into a den, killed at least one bunny (he may have killed others I did not see) for no real reason other than play. That's why I was sad. I should have been watching him more closely; he's not allowed to dig in my yard to begin with.

[jedimaster91]

One of my dogs got a hold of a fledgling robin the other day. Luckily Mr Jedi was nearby and managed to rescue the poor thing before it got horribly mangled. It did look like one of its legs was broken, but was pretty feisty otherwise. We have a vet office in the area that partners with a wildlife refuge, so we took the little bird there. Had a hard time keeping the little bugger in the shoebox during the drive over and the vet staff had to catch it when they opened the box in the back. I took that as a good sign that the little guy will be ok.

I wouldn't say house dogs hunt purely for play necessarily, though. A lot of them were bred for hunting long before they became strictly companion animals. That hunting instinct is still there and it's unlikely it can ever be stamped out. It's just like barking. They all do it--some more than others--because they're dogs and that's what dogs do. You can mitigate it somewhat through training and management, but it will never completely go away. I have beagles, so I have had to dispose of my fair share of small woodland critters. Many birds, at least 3 rabbits (that I know of anyway), and the other day they got a turtle (which is funnily enough the second turtle they've cornered, but I was able to rescue the first one). I've even had to pull them off the occasional snake.

It's sad, but it's also reality when you have a cat or dog. You save the ones you can and bury the ones you can't.

[Sapphire Silk]

You're right. I know this. I'm not really angry at Copper. I'm sure Stumps killed his fair share of rabbits and squirrels before he died (I didn't have any in my yard at all for a couple of years), I just didn't see it.

I just have a really soft spot in my heart for all animals, especially babies. So this really bummed me out.