The Bobcat’s Bunny
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As I sit down to write, the sun is pouring through the northwest window and I can hear the humming birds in the overgrown cape honeysuckle that surrounds our yard. The 15 foot living wall of twisted vine, keeps our backyard secluded on most days, however this morning it proved an easy passage for a hungry uninvited guest. Had it been a coyote on walk-about or a great blue heron looking for an easy meal in our water garden, I would have taken great pleasure in watching my very own private nature show through the window pane.
And though I have heard stories of brown bears and red tail foxes in the quarry that sometimes tour the valley streets when they are lost, injured or hungry … I thought nothing of it when Taco was incessantly barking this morning in the backyard. Taco likes to bark a bit when she first dashes out her dog door. But this morning was different. I could hear her barking wildly but my head was tipped over the kitchen sink as I was washing my gray hair with a chamomile tea rinse. I only caught a glimpse of her standing in the middle of the yard next to a fallen tree we are in the process of removing. Dalai joined her furless friend for a minute or two and the girls ran circles through the fallen limbs and branches. But I certainly didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary.
The double swoosh and slam of the dog door let me know both dogs were back inside, so I continued rising my hair and began to brush it out. That’s when I noticed our guest next to the old pine tree near the bunny hutch. My eyes grew wide and my heart pounded as if I saw a saber tooth tiger. Yes, it was reptilian brain, fight, flight or in my case FREEZE. I saw the big cat was eating the white bunny that we had rescued almost three years ago. There was nothing to do, the bunny was already gone and I was in awe as I watched her carefully eat her fill.
I called loudly up the stairs to wake my sleeping husband — “There’s a bobcat in the yard eating our bunny! Come down . . . and get your camera!” Yes we live in a YouTube Twitter nation and our first thought is to take a picture so we can post to our friends. After all, I knew I’d be blogging and what would it be without the money shot?
There’s a story of course about how I phoned for help and no less than three police officers came on scene with pepper guns that looked like M60’s to an uninformed pacifist. Or the sweet lady from animal control who kept shaking her head as she picked up the pelt that was covered in pepper spray and tossed it in a plastic trash bag. Then of course the sad saga of how I sat on the front step with my darling daughter and told her take slow deep breaths as I explained how a bobcat ate her bunny. Which eventually will find its way onto her own Facebook profile post for the day.
Yes, the egoic mind loves to spin stories around such bio-chemical dealings. But by now the sleeping dogs at my side have all but forgotten the morning headlines, the bunny is no doubt transformed to a new leg of his journey, the birds are singing in the warm mid day sun and one very satisfied bobcat is most likely sleeping in his den which I would like to believe is far far away.
