I hope this unfortunate incident serves as a memory to that little girl that makes her want to do the opposite of what her parents taught her and make future choices about pets that include planning, education and devotion.

Its terrible she had to give up her pet, whom I am sure she loved. Its worse that her parents didn’t care what happened to Velocity.

I am glad she found Gina, so that the bunny didn’t end up euthanized or in another home that had adults who care so little about the wellbeing of animals.

I can vouch for that. When I was a kid, our dogs and cats were constantly roaming the neighborhood and disappearing. Litters of puppies were routinely taken to the pound or given away free, and my dad openly admitted taking the dog to the garbage dump and leaving her when he couldn’t deal with the puppies anymore. He thought it was funny that she found her way home. I have two cats and I like to think I learned not to imitate his example.

Incidentally, my son’s adopted, so I did have to pass a test to be a parent.

When I repossessed a dog from a family who had slipped through the screening radar, my biggest concern was the young boy who had left my house with a puppy in his arms years before. He was not the one who destroyed the poor dog emotionally, neglected his physical needs, violated almost every core clause of the contract, ducked my follow-up inquiries, and finally called me to take back the mess they had made. (Indeed, this boy had done well in teaching the dog tricks and a few obedience commands, all on his own.) While we loaded the prodigal puppy into my car, sans parents, I told him as clearly as I could, “This is not your fault. You did not fail your dog. You don’t have the power to have fixed this, not because you aren’t a strong person, but because you aren’t old enough to drive yourself to class, pay the vet bill, or otherwise carry out the actions that needed to happen for this dog.”

I’m just hoping that when this kid is an adult, processing his parents’ multitude of failures, that this little bit of validation from the strange adult, the woman who took his dog away (but also saved his dog from death) will help with that: It’s unjust to make the powerless feel guilty about those things they could not change. Sometimes the only thing an adult can do is leave a little virus with that guilty-feeling, grieving child. The virus is permission to externalize one’s anger and grief. It can replicate into a sense of compassion for the powerless, while immunizing against crippling guilt.

People used to dump dogs in my area when I was a kid, and my dad would never let us keep any that crawled into our yard looking for help. I have never forgotten the look on their faces, and I think of them while I volunteer at the county shelter, and when I look at my rescue cats and dogs.

We get the occasional rabbit who, probably, had the unmitigated gall to not stay cute and small, but they get adopted pretty fast. Velocity is a lucky bunny.

A question for any rabbit people on the blog. We have four indoor/outdoor cats that do hunt sometimes, mostly gophers. Is it remotely possible or even responsible to have a house rabbit in a home with cats? I’ve been on the House Rabbit Society’s website, but I’m interested in what you all think.

Are there curriculum materials available to help teachers teach responsibility and compassion for our fellow creatures since it’s clear that too many parents don’t have a clue and aren’t likely to find one?

FYI-by “popular demand” I have posted a couple of pond pictures on my blog at http://www.foxstudio.wordpress.com
Enjoy.

I can’t even begin to count the number of people I’ve known who got their pets on impulse - no planning. It’s not logical. With a child you plan. You outfit living quarters, you buy clothes and supplies. You get READY ahead of time. But somehow these people [many of whom swear they are religious] simply don’t understand that pets deserve the same courtesy.

I remember looking through the window one day and saw my neighbor unloading her car. Out came a big new dog bed, bags with a pet store label filled with toys, food…… I couldn’t resist, so I went outside to scope the situation. Turns out they adopted a rescued pet and that weekend were going to bring it home. Yes, that dog was WANTED.

I wish all pets could be as lucky.