In Memoriam

On our walk this morning, Rosie Dog caught a rabbit.

Despite learning to 'Leave It' in dog class, this fluffy, bouncing bunny was apparently worth a lapse of obedience. She bounded back out of the woods extremely proud of herself, and if it wasn't for the fur in the way, I'm sure she was smiling. It wasn't as if she was aggressive, she was holding it gently between her ancestral retriever lips, but she had no concept that what lay in her mouth was not in fact the best toy she had ever laid eyes upon, it was a living, breathing rabbit, terrified out of its mind. She laid it on the ground at my feet and seizing its opportunity, the rabbit made a run for it. But Rosie was faster. She held it a while longer, than deposited it on the ground once more. Again the rabbit made a bid for freedom. I tried to grab her collar, but in her frenzy of primal urges I had no chance. My son was watching this whole sorry affair from his buggy which finally came to a halt as the bunny lay lifeless on the ground. Rosie lost interest and went off into the bushes following another scent.

I stepped closer. The rabbits eyes were open and he was still breathing, but he looked pretty roughed up. There was no blood but he was lying very still. I burst into tears. This was all my fault.
"Bunny. Hurt" my son said pointing. Sobbing, I nodded my head. Then I called my Dad. Even though he was miles away, he would know what to do.
"Either walk away and try and forget about it, or pick up a heavy stick and aim it, look away and put it out of its misery", he said. I could do neither of these things.

Instead I resorted to walking back down the path to see if I could find someone to help. Outside a house was a removal lorry. I explained the sorry plight of Mr Bunny to the band of burly men and managed to convince one of them to come to my aid. It had been about twenty minutes since I'd left the rabbit and I half expected it to already be dead, but it wasn't. The removal man thought that Rosie had probably broken its spine and the most humane thing to do was kill it. He told me to walk away. Taking one last look, I did just that and as I came out of the woods I heard the dull thump of finality behind me.

I'm so sorry Mr Bunny. May you rest in peace.