“Sumbunny sabe me!”

20040806-rabbit.jpg (JPEG Image, 300x348 pixels) via kwout

A rabbit might save your life but it won’t compensate you when your house burns down.

Anyone else hear about the Australian house bunny that saved a couple from burning to death in their own home? Well, if you haven’t, the story goes that Mr Keogh and Miss Finn, blissfully asleep in their bedroom whilst their house was burning around them were woken up by the pounding of rabbit feet on their bedroom door. The rabbit, inventively named “Rabbit” saved the day by alerting his owners to the fire that had started in one of the back rooms of the house. Unfortunately for the couple, Rabbit couldn’t save the thousands of pounds that the couple spent on renovations that had just been completed days before the fire broke out.

Some people have pointed out that Rabbit was probably just trying to save himself rather than altruistically trying to rescue his sleeping owners. This is probably right however there have been various claims to suggest that our bouncy fluffy friends have more carrot than we credit them for. There have even been accounts of bunnies helping other species, by alerting their owners to floundering fish that have propelled themselves out of their bowl.

Amazing I know but still, I would rather rely on a fire alarm than a giant house bunny to wake me if there was (god forbid) a blaze at my house. You would have thought that what with all the expensive renovations the hapless couple might have thought that installing one was probably a good idea-considering. If you have the money to improve living standards then why not improve safety standards while you’re at it?

Let’s just hope that the unfortunate couple had home insurance eh? They don’t sound like the brightest nails in the hutch and you could say they might be a carrot short of a picnic (I could do this all day but I won’t torture you with it) but I certainly think that a few lessons could be learned here.

Lesson 1) Smoke alarm step ONE, renovations step TWO
Lesson 2) Home insurance is a GOOD idea
Lesson 3) Rabbits save fish

There have been other cases of pets saving their owners as I am sure you know. Acts that make Rabbit’s act of self preservation look piffly in comparison but I expect that the main reason everyone is so surprised is because it is rarely assumed that rabbits are that intelligent.

I had always been a huge fan of the film Watership Down when I was a kid. Even now, whenever I hear Simon and Garfunkel singing ‘Bright Eyes’ I get a little sniffly. Who could fail to be similarly warmed by the Velveteen Rabbit escaping the bonfire and becoming real? I hope I didn’t ruin the ending for anyone there.


Long live the rabbit I say, and in this case long live its lucky owners too!