THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jessie, a seven-year-old golden retriever, sniffs one of three small rabbits she found in the woods two weeks ago near Hunt's Point, Nova Scotia. The dog has been caring for the two of the rabbits since.
Maternal dog adopts tiny orphaned bunnies
Golden retriever turns family home into rabbit nursery
Jessie, a golden retriever, has become a media darling.
Ever since the seven-year-old canine adopted three baby bunnies, she's been in the spotlight.
"It's nerve-racking," said Janette Fisher of Hunts Point, about 110 kilometres south of Halifax, as she rhymed off a list of media outlets who have been to her home to witness the female dog mothering tiny rabbits.
Most of the neighbourhood children, including a local Beaver troop, have tramped through her house as well to visit the animals.
The unusual story began about a week and a half ago, when Fisher's husband Marty took Jessie for a walk in woods near their hunting camp south of Hunts Point in Port Joli.
"One by one, she brought them out of the woods," Janette Fisher said during an interview in her home.
"I had to get her out of there or she might have brought more," said Marty Fisher.
Ironically, the Fishers had been teaching Jessie to hunt rabbits. They aren't sure whether she was guided by her retriever instinct or her maternal instinct when she presented them with her foundlings.
The Fishers believe the bunnies were little more than newborn when Jessie discovered them. Afraid the mother would reject her babies once they were covered with Jessie's scent, the Fishers decided to try to keep them alive.
That night, the bunnies were put to bed in a lower bunk. During the night, they tumbled out onto a mat on the floor. In the morning, the Fishers found Jessie curled up on the mat keeping the tiny animals warm. Since then, her days have revolved around her little charges, although they now number only two.
"I feed them," Janette Fisher said, "but Jessie does the rest."
Relying on the advice of a local vet, Janette Fisher has been feeding them a concoction she calls the bunny recipe - a mixture of two per cent milk, egg yolk, milk powder, corn syrup and bone meal.
She fills a large syringe with warmed formula and holds it to the bunnies' mouths for them to lap up.
"They don't like it cold."
When they are finished eating, Jessie licks them off, sending the little hares rolling across the floor.
One of the bunnies died earlier this week, but Janette Fisher said it always appeared sickly.
It may have been hurt when Jessie carried it out of the woods, she speculated. The two remaining little animals have doubled in size. Marty Fisher estimates they weigh four to five ounces each.
On Wednesday, Janette Fisher moved the bunnies from a blanket-lined laundry basket to a cage with wood shavings on the floor. Jessie has parked herself right beside the cage. "That's what she does all day - lays down and looks at them," Janette Fisher said.
She believes they are nearly ready to try solid food - a bit of bread or oats soaked in milk. After that, she'll move them on to rabbit pellets.
The Fishers would like to release the bunnies when they are old enough but aren't sure whether they can return to the wild.
"If they see a coyote, they will probably run up to it thinking it's a dog," Marty Fisher said.
"What's best for the bunnies, that's what will happen to them," Janette Fisher said.
[ May 25, 2007, 06:47: Message edited by: Jesse-Joe. ]