The Bub in the Belly

Ryan is doing really well with his swimming lessons. He has been taking weekly half-hourly lessons with Aquaducks since January this year and he enjoys every session. He's always happy to be in the water, always confident, always eager.

Here he is swimming in the pool (last Sunday).

An interesting thing happened the other day after class. The pool is at Dempsey Hill, in the same compound as St. James Church Kindergarten and the kindergarten has a generous outdoor compound where there is a rabbit run (and some fish tanks). After Ryan's swimming class, we usually stop by and watch the rabbits for a while.

Two Sundays ago, we were watching the rabbits when we noticed some kits (baby rabbits) with their eyes still closed, crawling about on the ground. A rabbit must have just given birth. It was fascinating to watch the kits (although they really weren't doing much). We couldn't tell which rabbit was the mother - all the adult rabbits in the area weren't being at all motherly. One was cleaning itself and the others were just lying about.

We were about to leave when I noticed that there was a little kit which was still in a small hole in the ground at one corner of the rabbit run. I suppose the mother rabbit had transported the other kits to safety but forgot the last one. What worried me was that the little fella was attracting large red ants and the ants were all over it. The poor thing was writhing around in the hole. The kindergarten office was closed so we couldn't alert them or get them to unlock the gate. I was so angry that the kindergarten staff had not ensured that there would be someone around when the pregnant doe gave birth.

I couldn't very well leave the kit like that - the red ants would have devoured it - so I told Richard that I would climb over the fence into the compound. We looked around and tried to figure out how to get in. The rabbit run didn't seem to have an entry/exit, so even if I got into the kindergarten compound, I wasn't sure how to get into the rabbit run and if I climbed into the rabbit run, I wasn't sure if I could climb out. Church service had just ended and people were coming out from the nearby building. I didn't want to be stuck in the run with people thinking I'm stealing the rabbits and calling the cops on me. It had to be a quick job.

After about five minutes of scrutinising the perimeter, by which time more and more red ants had advanced onto the poor kit, Richard took matters into his own hands. He heaved himself over the fence into the compound and then he heaved himself over the fence into the rabbit run. He dusted off the red ants from the kit, picked it up and brought it over to join the other kits under safe cover. The adult rabbit which had been cleaning itself, stopped and gave Richard a hard look - I suppose that must have been the mother doe. Richard then checked the rest of the run for any more stray kits and after ensuring all was well, he climbed back out over the two fences. Two minutes flat.

My hero.

Actually, I should say The Rabbit Hero.

The next Sunday, we walked past the rabbit run as usual but the kits were all gone. Hopefully, the kindergarten staff have put them in a safe place and they are being well cared for.