Rabbit Mayhem

Rabbit Mayhem

Somewhere along the line,
We broke down
And bought a cute little
White bunny
To add to the menagerie.
Well, he was small
When we got him,
But he didn’t
Stay that way,
And we soon learned why
They call that breed
New Zealand Giants.
At first he was a house pet,
But he quickly
Wore that welcome out
As he took to chewing
The electrical cords
And eating the wallpaper.
He also made it clear
He needed a mate,
After he tried humping
Almost everything in sight,
So I got a little female
And built a run for them
On the side of our house.
Due to the rabbit’s large size,
The neighborhood cats,
Didn’t present
Too much problem,
And in fact,
The rabbits took to
Chasing the cats
Which must have confused
The cats immensely.
The biggest danger
To the rabbits
Turned out to be themselves.
The smaller female
Apparently didn’t enjoy
The larger male’s
Ardent attention,
And tore him up pretty bad
One night.
We bought rabbit pellets in bulk,
But their favorite food
Was the birdseed we discarded
After the birds had their fill.
The birds were never
Very thorough in their eating
And there were always
Plenty of good seeds
Left for the rabbits to eat.
The rabbits learned to stand up
And beg for the seeds.
What the rabbits didn’t eat.
And the wild birds didn’t get,
Would eventually grow
Providing both food
And a covering canopy
Over their many holes.
The male must have had his way
Every once in a while
Because we ended up with
Quite a few litters
Of baby bunnies scampering
Around our yard.
Whereas the adults couldn’t
Get through the wire mesh
Of the gate to the run,
The little babies could,
And our dogs had fun
Herding them back to the pen.
My wife’s garden
Seemed to be a magnet
For the little critters,
And all her vegetables.
Soon began disappearing
Under rabbit frequent onslaught.
One of the babies
Escaped under our
Backyard fence,
And decided to claim that
As his home.
We would often see him
Come out to dine
In our yard.
That rabbit seemed
To make a game
Of tantalizing Balto,
Our German Shepherd,
And seemed to enjoy
The frequent chase
Just as much
As the dog did.
He would invariably time it
So that he made it
Back under the fence
And into his sanctuary
Just before Balto got him,
And the two of them
Never appeared to tire
Of that game.
Some time later,
I would occasionally spot
One of those New Zealand Giants,
Fully grown,
Lounging in the morning sun
In front of
A neighbors yard
Like he owned the place.
For all I know,
That neighborhood
Is still plagued
By some of our escaped giants.