Pray for my rabbits, whose home is being destroyed. (comments telling me they will be fine are welcome only if they are true.)
exile
Posted on by wonderfulexchange
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Kimberly Bohan is a priest in the Diocese of Lincoln, less surprised by angels than by being so far south. View all posts by wonderfulexchange
wonderful exchange 
What is the bull dozer doing and where?
(for risk assessment for rabbits)
I can tell you now, the rabbits won’t sit there and be bull dozed and won’t have very tiny babies at the end of October – anything bigger than a coffee cup will leg it out of the way.
I am sure any sensible country person would say I was over-reacting.
To the right of the house, there was a field with tall sturdy grasses year round. The rabbits (Red, Spot, Blaze, and Little One) would spend a good part of each day on my lawn, knowing that there was safe shelter only a few feet away. The birds ate the seed pods. The deer rested. The pheasants clucked and flapped.
Today, the tractor came, and cut it all down to stubble. The field is not in use. There is no intention to use it. They just wanted to ‘tidy up’. Just in time for winter.
I’m sure the rabbits will find a place to live. But I will miss them if they no longer feel safe here. On a bad day, they are a major source of solace.
So far, I’ve seen Red, and rejoiced greatly. The others are still unaccounted for.
I’ve just thrown a whole bag of seed out, with some suet balls for good measure, to try to tempt everyone back.
Your friends will return once, and only once they feel safe. Slowly, but surely, they’ll visit you again. Probably are already. I hope you’re too busy trying to seek them out that you’re just not seeing them. I suspect Red is the leader of the pack and they’ll all follow one by one. This sounds odd writing this for you, but here goes anyway, have a little faith 😀
Two rabbits now spotted (by others, so not sure who), but also one Fox. The morning should make things clear.
Clearing fields at this time of year is ecological illiteracy. The rabbits will either have burrows, or live in very dense scrub (ie under hedges, etc.) The fox is always a problem for them of course, and you’re right – he’ll take full advantage of any sense of dislocation they feel. But he has to live, too. Hope all these special rabbits make it back for you.
Three accounted for so far — terrified, and twitching at every sound. It’s the dogs who are suddenly troublesome.
Tell me, how are they now, having had a weekend to regain a little composure?
Three of the four have been spotted. Only two are coming here. They are beginning to look less frightened, but they are not the happy rabbits they were.
The birds don’t seem to care now that I’ve tripled the feeders.