National Geographic Kids Chapters: Rascally Rabbits!: And More True Stories of Animals Behaving Badly. Aline Newman Alexander

lead such a lonely life. Nobody pays any attention to you.

       Did You Know?

      Rabbits whose ears hang down the sides of their head are called lop-eared.

      Finley knew her neighbors well. She sometimes babysat for their three youngest boys. So one day she gathered her courage. “I like your rabbit,” she said. “May I have him?”

      “Yes!” said her neighbors. They were happy to find him a good home.

      Finley and her dad set to work fixing up their old rabbit hutch. Her dad had built the hutch years before. It was a big, wooden box standing on legs. Inside were two rooms. The walls of the larger room were made of wire mesh. A climbing shelf was mounted on one wall. And a mesh “skylight” let in the sun.

      The smaller room was like a closet. It was snug and dark like a wild rabbit’s burrow. That served as the bunny’s hideout.

      Finley cleaned out the hutch and hosed it down. Then her dad replaced the old shingle roof with a new metal one. They also mended holes in the wire mesh.

      Finley hung a plastic water bottle in the hutch. She added a food dish, salt wheel, birdseed cake, and a chew toy. Without something to chew, her rabbit’s front teeth would grow long and curved like walrus tusks.

      

      Many animals hunt rabbits for food. So it’s no wonder rabbits are fearful by nature. That’s why it’s important to be very gentle when you handle one. Before you pick up a bunny, let it sniff your hand. Calm it by speaking gently.

      Lift the rabbit with both hands. Put one hand under its chest. Support its rump with the other. Hold the rabbit firmly against your stomach. Never lift a bunny by the scruff of its neck or by its ears. Bunnies have sensitive ears, and they hate hanging in the air.

      Now the hutch was ready. Finley went to get the bunny from her neighbors. But when she opened the cage door, the rabbit panicked. His eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. He flattened his ears and braced himself against one wall. The bunny’s whole body screamed “Stay away!” What a struggle! Using two hands, Finley finally managed to turn the rabbit around. Then she gently pulled him out tail first.

      “Everything will be okay,” she whispered. “I am giving you a new home and a new name. We will call you Babbity Rabbity.” Babbity Rabbity was a character in the Harry Potter books. The fearful bunny pumped his hind legs. He tried to get away. But Finley held her furry bundle close and carried him home.

      Babbity’s new home was in the goat paddock (sounds like PAD-ock). The paddock was a small field surrounded by a wooden fence. The fence was covered with wire mesh.

      Besides the rabbit hutch, a small goat house stood in the paddock. The goats went inside the house to get out of the sun. It also sheltered them from wind and rain. A wooden platform under the roof served as their bed.

      Finley opened the hutch door and tucked Babbity inside. “I hope you like it here,” she told him. “I’ll come back tomorrow and let you out. Then you can stretch your legs.”