Black Lop with Rear Hind Paralysis (an update)

Once again the rabbits species demonstrates its vital dignity in the case of a rabbit I am treating currently with rear hind paralysis---cause as yet unknown. The nobility of the species is evident in the courage that this rabbit displays. As I must leave him alone for hours at a time during the day; this fine buck who once maneuvered like a champion through space, leaping and turning; now dwells in patience until my return, pawing at the floor with his front paws. His bottom is wet, a most unnatural thing for the ultra-clean Cuniculus Oryctalagus lop buck.

One of the first behaviors one sees with bunnies even as early as two weeks is the grooming move with the front paws.

To novices, this behavior certainly appears as 'cute' but how many have carefully studied the exact rhythm and manner with which the rabbit first strikes the interior sides of the front paws in a clap, and then drawn the timing to a 'ritard' only then to resume with the initial timing of the move as if in a carefully choreographed gesture which in its own way surpasses even the finest dance moves of a master like Michael Jackson or Mick Jagger? How many more have 'kenned' that this clap reveals a dimension of natural law? Rabbits who often dig and paw in the earth must first of all shake clean the dust from their paws before initiating the grooming gesture which is obviously 'hard-wired' genetically---to use an expression au courant, and on par with the latest scientific paradigm. A better term is 'orthogenetic' which is a term Teilhard uses to describe the fact that mammalian behaviors are not willy-nilly but have anchors in natural laws. This ultra-cute clap is in no way gratuitous but is essential to this little buck's health.

Now imagine that you had this God given gift to dance and leap in perfect rhythm and then were to lose it all at once in a paralysis. Well, this is exactly what happened to our yearling lop buck last week. And no, there were no accolades given for this young rabbit's excellence, no citations of virtue and no one weeped about health care or felt sorry for this grave immobility. All the while, this rabbit's movement and elegant behavior is superior to any dancer or athlete of the human species, but because it is a rabbit, a non-human species, there is no kudos given by the novice observer for such stupendous feats of maneuver through space. But had it been a football match in Brazil, or some dancer in New York, then the ritual would have been quite regal indeed. 

Bottom line is that humans for the most part only care about human things, human concerns. It is a rare bird indeed who would spend hours in careful observation of the nimble quadruped. Be that as it may, I have carefully studied rabbit behavior and as a result have been honored to glimpse from a new angle members of this noble species. What I am looking at with this paralyzed buck would break my heart if it were not for the noble pose this buck strikes whenever I return to his side---such elegant behavior which inspires me not to assume the pitiful gaze but rather awakens within my soul and mind an awe. I also realize that he will hang in there as best he can and if he indeed loses his thirst for life that nothing I can do or say will resuscitate the 'will-to-live'. I am grateful that his thirst yet lingers.   

I know what the critics are thinking---ethics is the domain of human beings not rabbits. This habit of describing rabbit behavior in terms of virtue is somehow unbecoming! But I can assure you, it is not!