A baby bunny – being cared for by staff at the Richmond News – died during the night on Tuesday.
The little fur ball appeared from nowhere last week inside the west Richmond home of the News’ distribution manager Kristene Murray.
Murray brought the bunny – estimated by a local vet to be a three-week-old female – into the News office and staff immediately fell in love with her.
She was unable to take the bunny to RAPS’ animal shelter, which had to close its doors to rabbit intakes after the province-wide rabbit haemorrhage disease (RHD) outbreak in March.
And due to RAPS being unable to take in rabbits, the Richmond-based rabbit sanctuaries are full and are struggling financially to keep up.
So, Murray and her colleagues had planned to take turns looking after the animal and on Tuesday night the News reached out online to its readers to name the bunny.
It was also looking for a more permanent home for “bunny” and, by Wednesday morning, several offers from kind-hearted readers had already come into the newsroom.
Murray said she had noticed on Tuesday evening that “bunny” was a bit lethargic and had planned to take her to vet Dr. Mike Shaufele, of Richmond Animal Hospital, on Wednesday.
Before the sad news, Murray told how, last Wednesday, she went upstairs in her townhome about 9:45 p.m. to see one of her cats hunched over something.
On closer inspection, Murray was shocked to see a baby rabbit huddled in the shadow of her cat, Rudy.
“I had been upstairs 20 minutes prior and there was nothing there then,” said Murray.
“I have no idea how the bunny got in my house. The cat who was hovering is mostly an inside cat, so he didn’t bring it in.”
For the last week, “Bunny” was a cause of much distraction at the News, with one staff member, who shall remain nameless, lamenting the fact she “has so much work to do,” while playing with the new office pet on the News’ balcony.
The two Richmond-based rabbit sanctuaries, Bandaids and Rabbitats, are appealing for more shelter space and suggested RAPS, as the City of Richmond’s contracted animal shelter, should be doing more to help with what they’re calling a “crisis.”
Murray thanked Dr. Shaufele for helping her provide support and information for her unexpected pet.
