Read Online How Animals Grieve by Barbara J. King - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Barbara J. King
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mourn for Vincent as Vincent had mourned for Lucy, over a period of weeks. Here we see evidence of two relationships that differed, and two survivors whose arcs of response to a loss differed as well.
The House Rabbit Society (HRS) is an animal-rescue organization headquartered in California but with an international reach. Its mission is to rescue abandoned rabbits and educate people about proper rabbit care. Its website is crammed with links to explore, including “Just for Fun: Rabbits and Their Sense of Humor,” “Living with an Aloof Rabbit,” and “Understanding the Emotional Messages of Your Rabbit.” These experts embrace the notion of rabbit grief. They would not hesitate to conclude that Vincent mourned Lucy.
The HRS offers grief stories of its own, and these underscore the fact that rabbits’ responses to death vary greatly. Some rabbits, I learned, exhibit an unusual behavior: If they are present when a cagemate or close friend dies, they leap into the air in a kind of dance. I’ve seen no explanation for this action, although it is described as a sudden release of energy.
Other rabbits may “act out” and misbehave. Upon losing his companion Dinah, a four-year-old rabbit named Lefty continued to act in his usual high-spirited manner. No echoes of grieving Vincent here. Instead Lefty jumped up onto the bed “his people” sleep in and chewed holes in the pillowcases. The HRS cautions that, in this context, a cheeky rabbit may need extra TLC and perhaps a new same-species friend, because grief may present itself as misbehavior.
Through the HRS, Joy Gioia tells of grief in a bunny trio. Just as Vincent, Lucy, and Annabel formed a sort of emotional triangle with Vincent at its center, responding first to Lucy and later to Annabel, so it was with Trixie and her two successive companions, Joey and Majic. In this case, two of the three rabbits had fared quite badly as people’s pets. All three were rescued by Joy, a volunteer rabbit fosterer associated with the HRS.
The story starts with Joey. Because his original caretakers were neglectful, he had suffered from severe infections that left him totally blind in one eye and partially blind in the other, which leaked liquid constantly. He was also deaf and saddled with breathing problems. Emotionally, he had more or less shut down; he especially hated the cleaning that his bad eye required and so was no fan of interaction with Joy or any other human. It would have been the easy choice for his human caretakers to euthanize Joey, but that is not what the HRS is all about.
Trixie had not been so poorly treated, but she needed surgery to remove her incisors because of severe malocclusion. Like Joey, she wasn’t keen on interacting with humans. By chance, she ended up in foster care with Joy, housed right next to Joey. Each rabbit showed sparks of interest in the other, and to encourage these, the pair was moved into a larger, sharable enclosure. This matchmaking plan worked spectacularly well. Trixie tended to Joey with devotion, including cleaning his bad eye. She licked it gently, which Joey definitely preferred to having it washed by humans. A great deal of affection was evident between the two.
A third bunny came into foster care also, but this one preferred people and wanted nothing to do with other rabbits. Majic had been a classroom bunny for five years. That might sound like a fairly good life for a rabbit, but as we discovered ourselves when we adopted Caramel from the Montessori school, even well-meaning schools can offer inadequate resources. Majic’s cage was small, too tiny even for him to properly clean his ears. It had a wire floor, which is hard on rabbits’ feet, which lack the thick pads that cats’ and dogs’ feet have. And having excitable children surrounding one’s cage can’t be the most restful experience. Eventually, Majic began to lash out at children who put their fingers into his cage.
When he arrived at foster care, Majic
The House Rabbit Society (HRS) is an animal-rescue organization headquartered in California but with an international reach. Its mission is to rescue abandoned rabbits and educate people about proper rabbit care. Its website is crammed with links to explore, including “Just for Fun: Rabbits and Their Sense of Humor,” “Living with an Aloof Rabbit,” and “Understanding the Emotional Messages of Your Rabbit.” These experts embrace the notion of rabbit grief. They would not hesitate to conclude that Vincent mourned Lucy.
The HRS offers grief stories of its own, and these underscore the fact that rabbits’ responses to death vary greatly. Some rabbits, I learned, exhibit an unusual behavior: If they are present when a cagemate or close friend dies, they leap into the air in a kind of dance. I’ve seen no explanation for this action, although it is described as a sudden release of energy.
Other rabbits may “act out” and misbehave. Upon losing his companion Dinah, a four-year-old rabbit named Lefty continued to act in his usual high-spirited manner. No echoes of grieving Vincent here. Instead Lefty jumped up onto the bed “his people” sleep in and chewed holes in the pillowcases. The HRS cautions that, in this context, a cheeky rabbit may need extra TLC and perhaps a new same-species friend, because grief may present itself as misbehavior.
Through the HRS, Joy Gioia tells of grief in a bunny trio. Just as Vincent, Lucy, and Annabel formed a sort of emotional triangle with Vincent at its center, responding first to Lucy and later to Annabel, so it was with Trixie and her two successive companions, Joey and Majic. In this case, two of the three rabbits had fared quite badly as people’s pets. All three were rescued by Joy, a volunteer rabbit fosterer associated with the HRS.
The story starts with Joey. Because his original caretakers were neglectful, he had suffered from severe infections that left him totally blind in one eye and partially blind in the other, which leaked liquid constantly. He was also deaf and saddled with breathing problems. Emotionally, he had more or less shut down; he especially hated the cleaning that his bad eye required and so was no fan of interaction with Joy or any other human. It would have been the easy choice for his human caretakers to euthanize Joey, but that is not what the HRS is all about.
Trixie had not been so poorly treated, but she needed surgery to remove her incisors because of severe malocclusion. Like Joey, she wasn’t keen on interacting with humans. By chance, she ended up in foster care with Joy, housed right next to Joey. Each rabbit showed sparks of interest in the other, and to encourage these, the pair was moved into a larger, sharable enclosure. This matchmaking plan worked spectacularly well. Trixie tended to Joey with devotion, including cleaning his bad eye. She licked it gently, which Joey definitely preferred to having it washed by humans. A great deal of affection was evident between the two.
A third bunny came into foster care also, but this one preferred people and wanted nothing to do with other rabbits. Majic had been a classroom bunny for five years. That might sound like a fairly good life for a rabbit, but as we discovered ourselves when we adopted Caramel from the Montessori school, even well-meaning schools can offer inadequate resources. Majic’s cage was small, too tiny even for him to properly clean his ears. It had a wire floor, which is hard on rabbits’ feet, which lack the thick pads that cats’ and dogs’ feet have. And having excitable children surrounding one’s cage can’t be the most restful experience. Eventually, Majic began to lash out at children who put their fingers into his cage.
When he arrived at foster care, Majic
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