misty autumn

I think its now time to introduce Mr. Winston. Winston has a verity of nick names, Mr. Stain, Wind Stain, Stainers, Windstain Foni, and Cujo. Cujo you ask? Well I should start with how I came about this little bitting bunny. Well about two and a half, maybe three, years ago I wanted to rescue another rabbit. So I contacted the lovely folks at www.bunnybunch.org. A lady volunteering at the Orange County Animal Shelter (nasty nasty place) got back to me and said she had a rabbit who was in direr need of adoption, otherwise he would be put to sleep in a few days. The words flew out of my mouth faster then I could think about them and I found myself with this scared cuddly little bunny.

Well this cute little act didn’t last long. A few day’s later Winston’s (I named him Winston, I believe his name was Butterscotch at the shelter) personality did a 360. He started to bite and attack when you opened his cage. This was tough because I couldn’t let the poor guy out. I contacted the lady who hooked me up with this wild animal and she informed me he had been adopted once and brought back due to aggressive behavior, but did not display any aggression at the shelter. Well no kidding, he was to scared. I later found out he had an abusive past.

So here I am with this little bunny who I can’t pet or play with and my heart was breaking for him because of his past, how could you hit a rabbit? Seriously?!. I did not know what to do, I didn’t know how to handle an aggressive rabbit, I had no idea rabbits would even attack. After much deliberation I decided to keep Winston and thought, well if I take him back he will be put down and I could learn how to handle him. Learn what he likes and what sets him off. This turned out to be a very long process.

First thing I did was place him in the big hutch outside. Living in Southern Orange County, it never gets to cold for a outdoor bunny. This would give him the space he needed and give me space to figure out how to treat this poor little guy. A few weeks after this move I warned my parents “DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try and pet the rabbit outside. He will bite”. Now my dad can’t resist petting a bunny, he has a secret soft spot for these little guys. After coming home after class I hear what has happened to my dad. He tried to pet the Winston, who in turn bit my fathers inner arm and latched himself to my dad and hung on for dear life. My dad, pissed off as all hell, tried to shake the rabbit off and finally flung him down the yard.

I looked at my dads battle wound saying “I told you not to touch him”. So from them on Winston was affectionately named Cujo. My dad always asks how Cujo is… I think he still has a soft spot for the killer rabbit.

Nowadays, Winston is much better. When I moved out of my parents home and into a two bedroom apartment, Winston got a huge pen to live in. This is when Winston started to change, for the better. He started to let you come a little closer and pet him on the head through the pen a little longer. Later, after moving into this current house and after Mocha and Blitz died, Winston had two pens hooked together to make a GIANT pen. He is in bunny heaven. Hes demeanor has changed so much. He now allows us to reach into the pen and pet him and even pick him up! He really needed time and space. Once he had both, he became the rabbit he always was deep inside.

Now when I think back on it, I am so happy I decided to keep him and not turn him back over to that hell hole shelter. I just think, he would have been put to sleep the day I brought him back or that not many other people out there would have been able to take care of him, who wants a crazy rabbit. He is such a happy bun now, spazzing out in his pen and playing tug-o-war with newspaper and paper bags. There was a little angel disguised as a devil.

As you can see now, hes as fat as a cow… its so cute.

Filed under: daily, little buns on January 18th, 2008