Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Little Bunny Foo Foo

We have no shortage of snowshoe hares around here. A couple of days ago in the rain, one baby died, and one hare was rescued from the road, in the rain, in front of bunkhouse 2. Staffer Mike brought him in motionless, and then warmed him in front of the heater.

Mike immediately felt the conundrum. He's very deliberate about supporting the wilderness, including the natural order of things. Easy to believe in theory, not so easy to walk by little Foo Foo in the rain. Within 12 hours Foo Foo was revived and moving again. I took special notice of tenderness the he drew from everybody.
How much is it OK to interfere? Most people around here frown upon feeding the deer, but not at feeding the birds. I noticed some local researchers are feeding the bears. Lily and Hope were big news in bear research in Ely, but what happens when the mother bear deserts her cub twice, in front of 98000 Facebook followers? It's sort of....cruel and embarrassing, even if turns out not to be terribly uncommon for new bear mothers.

Mike was planning to release Foo Foo back into the wild within 48 hours of reviving him. After all, he was able to eat dandelion greens. I'm glad that I live with nurturing people, who have instincts to take care of the weak. I'm glad that it comes so naturally to them, and that they try to be careful and deliberate about it. Something was wrong and Foo Foo didn't make it after all, but he sure was a cute little guy

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