Allen Meyers Wrote:
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> I see there is a photo of you on page 72 of the
> newest "House Rabbit Handbook".

Yup. That's me holding Lela at the House Rabbit Society's Rabbit Center in Richmond, Calif., prior to one of her rechecks from Dr. Carolynn Harvey. Lela came to our home for hospice care starting in early 2012. She was 12 at the time and had a variety of health problems all her life that originally stemmed from prenatal exposure to rabbit syphilis. Hard to tell in the photo because of me holding her on her back, but she was a medium-sized gray and white Standard Dutch mix. We work with "Special Needs" bunnies here, taking them in temporarily while they recuperate from surgery, illness or injury, and some stay here for the rest of their lives. They come here from animal shelters and rescue organizations from all over the Bay Area, and like Lela, are under the primary care of Dr. Harvey (yes, that's her real name!) who's also pictured on the same page. Lela's prognosis was just two or three months when she first came here, but because of the care she received from Dr. Harvey and frequent visits from her human mom Anna, Lela lived another 13 months before peacefully passing.

On page 86 of the same book is a photo of Dylan, whom we fostered here for over a year. His right hip had been severely crushed when he was a baby rendering it mostly useless except as an "outrigger," but he doesn't let that stop him from getting around almost as well as a normal rabbit. He was adopted this summer from the House Rabbot Society along with a blind bunny named Elvis, and both boys are happily living with a wonderful family in Livermore, Calif. Photo updates of both of them appear frequently on my Facebook page at Rich.Sievers.31.

> I've had rabbits
> as house pets for years. Originally my daughters
> wanted them as pets, then grew tired of them as so
> many kids do so I took over the feeding and caring
> for them.

It all started here in June 1993, when a stray baby bunny came in to the Alameda Animal Shelter. Over the years, we've progressed to providing temporary or permanent care as described above - currently, there are five bunnies here - and helping with "rabbit transit" for rabbits moving between vet appointments, shelters and rescues. In the last week, I've given lifts to six rabbits, and have another one who'll be getting a ride this afternoon following surgery.

>
> Now I understand why you had the large toy rabbit
> on the locomotive with you on your final day with
> UP before retirement!

Ah, yes. Topper. He rode with us everyday for years back in the early 2000's. Then on weekends, I'd take him home and give him a ride in the washing machine. He was pretty well known at the time, even to the point of roundhouse foremen rescuing him if our assigned locmotive suddenly needed to leave town (although he did spend a few weeks in Watsonville before a train crew thoughtfully brought him back).