Halfway through lunch time, Spark learners noticed something moving in the window well, deep underneath the ground.
“There’s a baby bunny down there!”
“I think it has a cut!”
“Can we save it? Please?”
They brainstormed about how to get it out.
“Who has ideas?”
“Let’s ask Evan because he has like a thousand pets.”
“We are making a ladder so it can jump out. My bunny used to run up a ladder.”
“We need a bunch of sticks.”
They prepared a home for the rabbit while Ms. Gwyneth called animal control.
“You need water so the bunny can have something to drink.”
“Why do we need three bowls?”
“In case one gets dirty!”
“Guys, we have to filter the water. I’m trying to get out all the dirt (from the bowl).”
“Can we use this?”(A plastic water bottle)
“Here’s a food and water bowl! Green is for food and white is for water.”
“Here are some leaves.”
“My bunny eats leaves! Wait, who got this poison oak?! We are not feeding poison oak to a bunny.”
They wondered how they could aid in the rescue.
“Get some sand! We can use the sand to help stick it together.”
“We can tape the bottom so it doesn’t fall out.”
“More sand!”
“That’s too much!”
“Oh wow Alice, you really helped!”
“Mulch goes over there.”
“It’s just so adorable when you two work together.”
“I’m going to play baseball. I’ll be right back.”
“We should put a band-aid in, in case it has a cut.”
“Bunnies don’t know how to use band-aids.”
“We can put it on for them!”
Just before we had to go in, Officer Grace from Animal Control arrived to help us catch and release the bunny. Spark learners watched closely as she released it from her net.
They cheered quietly as it hopped away. After the dramatic rescue, learners had lots of questions for Officer Grace, who generously stayed for an impromptu Q and A.
Q: How many animals have you saved? (A: Many!)
Q: Have you ever rescued a bear? (A: We have a bear in Arlington County right now. We’re going to leave him alone and he will walk home.)
Q: Have you ever saved a bird? (A: Yep.)
Q: Have you rescued a really tall animal? (A: I saved a really big dog once, does that count?)
Q: Have you ever rescued a snake? (A: Yes, lots of snakes.)
Q: Have you ever rescued a cheetah? (A: Well no, not a cheetah.)
Q: Have you ever rescued an animal from a burning house? (I haven’t, but we took in animals who had been rescued from a house fire.)
“Thank you for being so kind and calling us to save the bunny. If something like this ever happens again, you can call us any time.”
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