Bunny Breakout

Clumpy the bunny did his rabbit reputation well last week when he broke free from his hutch in search of love.

The little lothario was recovered by Thornhill Road resident and owner Amy Shaeffer, 14, at the Swakleys Road Veterinary Clinic after his stop-off at a female friend’s hutch.

Clumpy’s temporary landlord and vet, Sophie Ellum, was surprised to see a rabbit up to such mischief at this time of year when their usual mating season is from February to August.

The runaway rabbit was missing for three days before Amy visited the vet on her search and recovered him.

After Clumpy’s escape, which involved digging under his hutch, he travelled almost half a mile before shacking-up with a female rabbit in Court Drive.

Vet, Miss Ellum said: “Even for a rabbit, this shows quite a drive to make him travel so far for nuptial naughtiness.”

Owner, Amy said: “He’s always been naughty. I’m just happy he got back safely. My dad is working on making his hutch better so he can’t get away again.”

Bunny escapes are common and despite Peter Rabbit painting a picture with a happy ending, usually foxes ensure most domestic rabbits in the wild feel the full force of nature.

Amy and Clumpy were lucky to be reunited for Christmas. Anyone with a garden pet is reminded to make sure they are securely locked and have plenty of hay during these colder winter months.

A local animal story was easy to find as I live very close to a vet clinic. Due to the locality of the
clinic, the resident was also local.

An animal story, I found, is easier to research than a human story as people are more forthcoming
with details. In this case getting the owner's telephone number. Having a telephone interview was
straight forward as everyone involved revelled at the chance to be in the local paper.

The angle was not a problem as animal stories are heart-warming at the best of times so having
a child owner only compounded it further. I also thought that being near to Christmas would be
good timing as lots of people would be giving and receiving pets, as well as feeling compassionate
towards all animals living out in the cold climate.

The light-hearted nature of the story meant it was a humorous piece where vocabulary could be
varied and interesting, granting the piece character. However as it is not a story of major news
value the length was kept down to tailor to the short attention span of a local paper reader.

Due to a tight deadline I was not able to take a photo for this piece but because of the homogeneity
of a piece like this many a ‘googled’ bunny picture was readily available.