One of the escapees

If I ever decide to dig an underground cellar, I would want to hire a group of rabbits. They are amazing engineers. God has equipped rabbits with the ability to dig extensive tunnel systems while keeping the ground above stable and strong.

My husband, Lane, built our doe rabbits a hotel. They are spoiled bunnies. The bottom floor sits on the ground enabling them to eat green grass. We can move the hotel around the yard keeping them in an almost constant supply of grass. Lane attached some wire at the bottom of the hotel so the bunnies won’t tunnel out.

It has been wintertime and we are in a drought. Therefore, our hotel has stayed in the same spot. Consequently, the wire must have rotted because I looked out the dining room window and saw two big white bunnies hopping around the yard. Kyla went to investigate and found that they had tunneled out.

The rabbits must have been feeling adventurous because they went exploring. One hopped out of our property and was in the pasture. The other one was in a far corner of our yard. Their stark whiteness made them stick out like a sore thumbs in contrast to the green grass beginning to grow in the warmth of spring. I was worried about predators spotting them. They would be an easy lunch.

It’s a little tricky wrangling rabbits. They aren’t trained to come to food. They aren’t trained to come to “Here, Bunny!” They can die from getting too scared. If you catch them, they can tear you up with their claws. It is quite a delicate matter herding rabbits.

It took five members of our family to retrieve the bunnies. Lane, Clayton, Kyla, Jake, and Isaac went to work as a team to catch the escapees. I stayed back with Andrew.

They got both rabbits back into our yard first. Then as a team, they cornered each one separately. Lane carried each one carefully back to the hotel.

When they were safely back home, Lane started stamping on the ground above the tunnel to cave it in. The ground would not give way. It was stable. It was standing firm against his assault. We had to fill in the hole with a shovel and dirt. As I said before, rabbits are amazing tunnel builders.

I am just glad that they are safe back in the rabbit hotel. The coyotes are just going to have to eat something else tonight.