rabid bunnies

Unfortunately, I have no pictures...or proof that the bunnies are indeed carrying rabies. There's a large field directly behind our house and this summer we've been visited by little brown bunnies several times. They seem to be eating in our backyard, though I'm not sure what nourishment they're getting from the dead grass. And the dead grass? Well that's all part of D's plan for a stronger lawn next year. The front yard looks super fab though!

So I had seen a rabbit in the backyard last week, very small and brown with a white cotton tail. When I opened the door, it hopped back under the fence. The last few days, the bunny has been back...and it's added a friend.

On Wednesday, Deran was closing the blinds and saw the bunny and I was all, "We have to let the dogs out!" I just wanted to see how they would react, believe me, I wasn't putting the bunny in any danger. In fact, I hate to speak for the whole breed because it could just be my two, but pugs are not the most observant animals. Put something new in the house without showing them first and they freak out, but neither one even glanced in the direction of the rabbit. D and I stood on the patio watching it and I thought maybe something was wrong with it since it just sat there...like it was RABID. Because in my experience, any wild animal is rabid. I don't know if it's too much Old Yeller or a fear of bats, or the mad dog in To Kill A Mockingbird--but why wouldn't that rabbit move?!

We did what anyone would do when dealing with a rabid animal. We put our dogs back in the house, went back out and moved closer. It's like a horror movie, when there's a noise and they run outside. WHY?! Then the bunny took off under the fence. It looks like he wasn't rabid, just a little brave and why not, he was was really camouflaged in the patch of brown grass.

We walked up to the fence to see the area he slipped beneath and I told Deran where he'd slipped out when I had seen him before. We walked a few feet away to check out the fence and there was an ENORMOUS copperhead coiled there, head up, ready to strike! I did actually take a couple of pictures of the snake but my camera is in the kitchen and I'm in the office and yes, I am that lazy.

I won't go into details, but I don't believe the snake will be back. It's only the second snake we've seen this year, both copperheads. The first one was tiny and met the weedeater before D even saw it. But really, this one was HUGE!

Last night the bunny and a larger friend were back, hopping around the backyard. But I stayed in the house--I can't be getting rabies!