A local buncherman was tight lining at the Elephant Hill fire on Aug. 11 when a baby snowshoe hare, also called a leveret, ran out from the fire and right onto the buncher’s path, according to Faith Andre, who’s taking care of the little hopper.
The hare was dodging left and right and jumping over burning logs, she tells.
“The buncherman got out of his machine and was able to catch the hare. He brought him inside the buncher where he remained for eight hours.”
The buncherman put water into his sandwich container and placed the hare in it to cool off his burning feet. Then he spent the two hour drive home in his lunch kit, according to Andre.
“The next day he was taken to the vet where his injuries were assessed. 95 per cent of his body was burned, his fur was quite crispy. His feet and neck were badly burned and eventually the skin peeled off. His ears were also burned and the tips and edges are now falling off. His eyes were also burned, his left eye is cloudy and blind and his right has some vision.”
He also has one broken toe and they decided to call him Harrison, according to Andre.
“He is continuing to receive veterinary care on a regular basis. His fur is growing in in patches where it has burned off.”
He gets fresh food every day and likes apples, carrots, grapes, kale and small tree branches, according to Andre.
“In the wild, hares will eat tree bark and other rough vegetation in the winter. He also gets lots of exercise and love at home.”
It’s been good and very entertaining to have the bunny, says Andre.
“He’s getting used to the cats so now when he’s free, the cats are out as well. They walk over and sniff him and then they’ll walk away. He’ll follow them and sniff them, they’ll turn around. It’s been entertaining, to say the least.
She’s had him since Aug. 11 and says his recovery has been good as he’s doubled his weight and is eating really well.
Andre is currently working on rehabilitating him.
Andre owns the Dancing Quilts store in town and says she was evacuated.
“I lost so much in the business. We lost a lot because we were closed for 13 days and then when everyone came back they were dealing with replacing their fridges and freezers, their burning properties and stuff. So, my business was really affected. Everybody’s was, I’m not any worse than anyone else.”
Harrison has been a ray of light for herself as well as others, says Andre.
“Some ladies come in and they have a bag of kale and they kind of wave it and they go down and put it in the fridge for him or someone brought in a bunch of crab apples. Some people come back and they always ask if they can see him which is nice. They don’t just go traipsing back there so he’s not being bombarded all the time.”
She’s talked to some people who’ve seen burned animals and to see Harrison survive has really made their day, she says.
“In these unsettling and scary times with so many wild and domestic animals being injured and killed, it is wonderful that this one little snow shoe hare will survive and be taken care of. He has beaten the odds and has become a ray of hope for many in our Cariboo Strong community.”
