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

Morning finally came, and Wade’s father found Sparky sitting on the back porch stoop. And, surprise! Beside him sat Sniffles! How did that happen? Wade wondered. Were Sparky and Sniffles together all night? Or did they meet up at dawn?

Wade would never know. But relief flooded over him as he scooped up his bunny and rubbed him against his cheek.

Sniffles had returned unharmed, so Wade continued to let him out of his hutch. “Don’t go far, and come back before dark,” he told the bunny. But did Sniffles listen? No! The naughty bunny missed curfew many times. Wade learned not to worry and just wait until morning. Then Sniffles and Sparky would appear at the door.

But Sparky was old, and he eventually died. Everyone missed him, including Sniffles. The bunny had lost his friend and his guide. Wade worried that without Sparky, Sniffles might not find his way home. So Wade stopped letting the rabbit loose in the yard. He began bringing him inside the house instead.

Wade usually did this at night, when he lay on the couch and watched TV. Then Sniffles would crawl inside one of Wade’s pants’ pockets and sleep.

One night, Wade was focused on his TV show. He failed to notice when the little rabbit started chewing. Chewing is a natural behavior for rabbits. So doing it must have felt good to Sniffles. But he nibbled a big hole in Wade’s best pants. Oops!

Other problems came up. Hopping around outside used to wear down Sniffles’ nails. Now that he no longer did that, his nails grew too long. Wade’s mom tried to cut them. But Sniffles wriggled and squirmed. Once she cut too deep by mistake, and it made the rabbit’s toe bleed.

Did You Know?

Like cats, rabbits can be trained to use a litter box.

Sniffles was acting different, too. He used to show joy by jumping straight up and to the side. But the bunny stopped doing his happy dance.

Wade hated to see Sniffles so sad. So he took a risk. He started letting Sniffles run loose outdoors again.

All went well for a while. Then one day Sniffles disappeared and did not return. Wade felt terrible. Is my funny bunny lost for good? he wondered. If only Sparky was still alive .

Wade and his parents were outside searching for the little rabbit when Boo Boo joined them. That gave Wade an idea. Specially trained search-and-rescue dogs found missing people. Could his untrained mutt find a missing rabbit? It was worth a try. “Boo,” he said. “Go find the rabbit.”

To his surprise, the dog seemed to understand. Boo Boo immediately put her nose to the ground. She zigged and zagged. Then she picked up speed. “She’s got it!” Wade’s dad said. “Boo Boo has picked up Sniffles’ scent.”

The dog headed straight for the neighbor’s cornfield. Time passed. Wade grew concerned and plunged into the corn himself. Then he saw them! Boo Boo was walking behind Sniffles and pushing him along with her nose. Every time Sniffles stopped moving, Boo Boo nudged him again. “Good ole Boo,” said Wade, amazed. “Thank you for nosing Sniffles home!”

Boo Boo found Sniffles many times after that. Once, the rabbit was lost for so long that everyone had given up hope. Everyone but Boo, that is. On day four, a neighbor called. Boo Boo had found Sniffles inside the neighbor’s garage. Wade rushed right over and got both pets.

Thanks to his animal friends, Sniffles enjoyed a long and happy life. He lived for nine years. That is old for a bunny, especially a misbehaving bunny with a lousy sense of direction.

Babbity the rabbit and Flopsy the goat check each other out, while Flopsy’s kids nibble hay.

About 450 miles (724 km) south of Sniffles and Wade’s home lived another bunny with a taste for adventure. But you wouldn’t know it to look at him. The big, black bunny huddled alone in a corner of his cage. His busy owners fed him every day. They cleaned his cage and kept his water bottle full. But that was all. The sad-looking bunny had no toys and no rabbit friends. He had not been out of his cage in two long years.

Finley Broaddus (sounds like FINN-lee BRAH-dus) and her family lived on the farm next door. It was an “Old MacDonald” type of farm called Tranquility (sounds like tran-KWIL-ih-tee) Post, in Warrenton, Virginia, U.S.A. And on this farm, they had 3 horses, 3 Nigerian (sounds like nigh-JEER-ee-un) dwarf goats, 25 chickens, 2 cats, and 1 dog. Finley’s family kept enough different kinds of pets to sing five verses of “Finley Broaddus had a farm. EE-I-EE-I-O .”

But they didn’t have any rabbits. And 16-year-old Finley and her sister, Callie, loved rabbits. Finley often thought about their neighbor’s rabbit. She saw it every day. Its cage stood next to the Tranquility Post fence. Seeing the rabbit all alone out there always brought a lump to Finley’s throat. Poor bunny , she thought. You 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.