I'm still shaken up.
So at roughly 5:30 today I got out of class right? And I'm walking across the big lawn at Old Main heading downtown, and I hear screaming. The saddest, highest-pitch screaming you'd ever hear. I look to my right and see that a crow is flying about a head above people-level carrying a baby bunny. The scream was coming from the bunny, in the opposite direction. I then see that a second crow had a second one. On the ground I saw what I assume was the mother rabbit freaking out.
So in a fit of I-don't-know-what-to-call-it, my mind went totally blank and I chased the nearer crow. I guess it got spooked, because it dropped the bunny from the tree branch it was perched on. I managed to beat it to the baby, however, as it tried to fly back down. I scooped up the baby bunny. The mom is watching me. The baby has a whole chunk of its cheek ripped off, and its foot looked bent, and it was covered in blood, but he was alive. Barely breathing, but alive. He was incredibly tiny. Like, basically hamster-sized. Little tiny ball of fur. And then I just kinda fell apart. The mother rabbit was staring at me about fifteen or so feet away. So was the crow, staring at me, perched up in a tree above the mother. Crows remember the faces of those who do wrongdoings to them. Not so fun fact.
Panicking, I call every animal care place in the area. Half of them wouldn't take him due to him being a wild rabbit. The other two didn't answer the phone. I wasn't gonna let the little guy die on me. For God's sake the mother rabbit already lost the other baby, since the other crow flew off with it over several buildings and out of sight. I was gonna do something right. Finally, one of the ones I left a message at earlier called back. None of their volunteers were answering their phones to pick up the baby, so I was left with the dispatcher on the other end. She was trying her hardest to get someone.
About halfway through this ordeal one girl was kind enough to get me a wad of toilet paper which I fastened into a poorly-made tourniquet to stop the bleeding. That was nice of her. No one else really cared. Hell, as it was happening everyone else just kinda ignored it or, worse, laughed. Thinking about this, I started to cry a bit, not caring at all that I was in public. The baby bunny began nuzzling into my hand.
The dispatcher asked if I could come to the office should a volunteer not show up. As a freshman, I lack a car, and it was miles away. The bus wouldn't let me bring a rabbit aboard. Another girl comes and asked if she should call a vet. I explained the situation to her, and she started helping me with the rabbit. Just a random girl walking by. It gave me a bit more faith in humanity. Eventually the dispatcher calls back and says that help is on the way. The girl and I waited and within ten more minutes (on top of the two hours since the bunny dilemma began) the volunteer gets there. She said the little guy should make a full recovery. I gave him one last nuzzle and a kiss on the head (disease be damned, it was gonna happen anyway).
I saved that baby bunny's life today. I took to calling him Lucky. But at the same time I can't get a few things out of my head. That mother rabbit watched one of her children get taken away. I wasn't able to save that one. And now her other child, though alive, is without her. I'm suffering from a weird mix of survivor's guilt and PTSD. I just...don't know what to feel. It's just messed up.
I just had to vent I guess...