Monday, May 19, 2008

Animal Rescue League Rabbits

My roommates, Calypso Spots and Orion, are endlessly entertaining, and utterly endearing in their passionate attentions to one another. Orion happily grooms Ms. Spots for ten and twenty minutes at a time, and although she isn't as good at returning the favor, she's very snuggly with him. Ms. Spots came to me via the Humane Society, where she was the most enchanting, sweet-natured rabbit in residence. As many of my readers know, she met Orion at the House Rabbit Society, where he was one of the few rabbits to court her rather than sit nervously in the corner wondering if she was going to bite. (Ms. Spots almost never bites. It is not part of her normal repertoire.)
But usually, when I meet shelter rabbits, few of them are happy or well-socialized enough that I have an overwhelming desire to take them home--which is exactly why more of us need to spend time petting and talking to them.
Fortunately, Animal Rescue League, the shelter closest to home, has its own corps of rabbit volunteers who visit on a regular basis to exercise and socialize the rabbits. I think this explains why most of the rabbits there are at least cautiously friendly, and why some of them are so charming that it's simply baffling no one has adopted them yet.
As it turns out, the shelter rabbits at Animal Rescue League even have their own web pages! To give just a few examples:
Basil, who has a most delightful and friendly personality (or maybe he just likes me because I comforted him shortly after he was neutered) even has his own video clip.
Bingo hasn't got a video but he certainly ought to. When down on the floor, he's a whirlwind of activity; otherwise he loves to be petted and talked to.
Sophia is also quite the charmer, although a bit shyer than Basil and Bingo. Her specialty is to wink at me from just out of reach, although if I close the cage door, she may come and sniff my fingers.
I wish I could bring all three of them home. Alas, living in a one-bedroom apartment doesn't really give me space to have foster rabbits; any additional rabbits would have to be adopted and get along with Orion and Ms. Spots. Ms. Spots was deeply fascinated by the smell of Bingo on my pants (Orion was mildly interested), but I couldn't tell whether this affected her more like reading the news, like getting a note from a secret admirer, or like hearing that an ax-murderer might move in. She didn't seem agitated, so she probably didn't regard Bingo as someone to exterminate. Then again, like all does she is territorial, so she would probably object if she found him in the living room. And she is about three times as big as either Bingo or Basil.
Besides, I think two rabbits are really the maximum I can get on the plane as in-cabin pets.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Kristen said...

Basil's sweet. Too bad he'd make it difficult for me to breathe and the cats might terrorize him...

May 19, 2008 8:54 AM  

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