1260 Bunny Wars

I was looking out at my bird feeder the other day. And I noticed, that instead of a bunch of birds underneath the feeder, where they usually congregate to feast on the seed spillage, there was a compact muscular brown mass.
It was a bunny-rabbit.
And he looked just about ready for the spit.
There was a time not long ago when rabbits were widely viewed as good eating. It hasn’t been till recent years that their cuteness factor has outweighed their calorie factor.
Now they’re “bunnies.”
The closest we come to consuming bunnies these days is at Easter, with either hollow chocolate ones or the bunny-shaped peep.
So it was with dismay the other day that I read of the misfortune of a couple that were fined $1000 because they’d killed a bunny.
The bunny in question had been ravaging their garden. It had been humanely trapped a number of times. Animal control had been involved and numerous attempts had been made to warn the owner of the bunny not to release it.
Yes owner. The bunny was said to be a pet. Unfortunately, responsible pet owners do not let their pets ravage neighbors’ gardens.
In any event, the bunny finally gnawed one carrot too many and was dispatched by the angry and frustrated farmer’s wife. Perhaps with a carving knife. Perhaps after she’d similarly dispatched three sight-impaired mice. Mice and bunnies both being part of the larger family of rats.
Edible rats to be sure.
I wonder if a similar fine would have been levied if the bunny killers had killed a pet python. Or if cuteness played a factor.
Personally, I’m not that swayed by cuteness.
There’s a free-range bunny out by my bird feeder...
America, ya gotta love it.