This past summer, a wild New England Cottontail rabbit started grazing on our grass. He would come on a regular basis, between 6:30pm and 7pm. During his third visit, mom was prepared. She quietly went outside and using a soft voice, spoke to him as she approached. He was alert but he didn’t run away when he saw her. Mom was about 4 feet from him before he started to hop off. So, she stopped moving and out of curiosity, he stopped too. When he looked back at mom, she threw a piece of carrot to him. He loved it. Perhaps it was the first time he had ever snacked on a carrot!
For the next couple of weeks, mom left our wild friend a variety of goodies — carrots, kale, watermelon, and white nectarine. One evening, he stopped by while mom and I were in the garden. I wasn’t able to greet him properly because I was playing in my x-pens. However, from across the yard, I saw Peter Rabbit and he saw me.
The next evening, mom helped me with my harness and we went outside to wait for Peter Rabbit. He did not disappoint us. He arrived on time and began eating dinner. With mom at my side, I approached him. As far as mom knew, I had never met a wild bun and he was quite a sight!
Peter Rabbit intrigued me. And fortunately, he was familiar with mom — she was a source of yummy, exotic foods! He appeared unconcerned as we inched closer. If mom had allowed it, I would have touched him with my nose but like many moms, mine was cautious. She was happy to be our chaperon but she didn’t think it would be safe to let us get closer than a couple of feet.