I work in the education department of a small zoo. We have around thirty species of program animals that live off exhibit, and which I and my colleagues take to schools, libraries, and other events.
Today, we said goodbye to Pooka. He was a beautiful little rabbit, a broken castor miniature rex to be precise. He would have turned 14 years old in just a few weeks, well beyond the usual lifespan of 8-10.
Pooka met over 15,000 children in the last three years alone. I don’t have records any further back than that, but he lived at the zoo for at least 12 years. Every time I invited a child to touch his soft fur, I saw something in their face: love.
I think of animals as a “gateway drug” to environmental literacy. Loving a soft rabbit forms a connection, a bridge, allowing kids to think of animals as a living being, similar to themselves, and yet unique and different. Domestic rabbits aren’t the most exotic of creatures, but many students in urban schools have no exposure to animals at all. And if they could touch and love a rabbit, they found they could also love an opossum or an owl.
We should give kids a chance to love animals, and the world, before we ask them to save it. Pooka gave that chance to lots of kids. I’ll miss him.
Yeah, there must be some in the air here, too. Between seeing the old woman in Oklahoma finding her dog and reading about Pooka my eyes are watering something fierce. Can’t be allergies.
We had a family of cottontails living out back in the natural sage desert area behind the plant. That was until one of our new corporate overlords decided to “get rid of those disgusting weeds” and had the whole acre or so taken down to bare dirt with brush cutters. Pissed me off royally. I have seen a few of the rabbits around the property since, but “Lamy”* the one with the defective rear leg who had been getting by for a couple years probably couldn’t adapt to the lack of easy cover.
Oh, and stripping the ground makes for really nasty dust when the April winds come, which is why it might have been a good idea to run your bright idea past someone with local knowledge.
*Lamy, spelled like that is an old railroad town up near Santa Fe, NM…as well as being a mean name for a bunny with a bad leg.
Thank you for the good work you do, araminty, and for posting such a sweet eulogy. I’m glad you’re able to give kids a chance to encounter critters and beasties they might not otherwise get to see and pet.
Until I recently bunny sat for my neighbours I didn’t realise bunnies were so nice!
Their rabbit is the sweetest little thing, and trained too. He can hop freely around and will only go on his toilet. If you tell him off he is very sorry. And if he has a little fright he runs over for a cuddle! Last time they dropped him off my neighbour handed him over and he stretched his paws back towards his daddy, like a little child saying “nooo, daddy, don’t leave me with horrid gracer pleeease!”
I couldn’t agree more: children should get to know animals. It benefits them so much.
I had a little dog in Brazil, where I worked in a children’s home. She was the most patient, loving little dog with the children. Often children would come in and at first try to continue the cycle of violence with her, but she would inevitably teach them to be gentle. Several times I saw her sit on top of children having a tantrum, somehow calming them down. Animals can do this. Some animals seem to have an innate understanding of children. And exactly as you describe, it’s touching the soft fur, coming to understand the animal is a complete being, with feelings just like yours. Learning that there is joy in connecting with an animal, that there is reciprocation. Gently pet the bunny, and the bunny will be nice to you. It’s like magic, isn’t it?
I bet that Pooka understood the importance of his job, on his own, bunny level. What a special rabbit. RIP Pooka.
