While soccer fans across British Columbia, Canada, gathered in downtown Vancouver to celebrate the World Cup, one tiny animal found herself caught in the middle of the festivities alone, frightened and desperately needing help.
The vulnerable bunny had
somehow wandered into the bustling crowd and, overwhelmed by the noise, huddled beside a row of outdoor planters in search of safety. Luckily, a group of Good Samaritans near the Vancouver Art Gallery spotted her and quickly called for help.
The team at Rabbitat Rescue rushed to the fan festival with x-pens and an assortment of bunny treats in hand. When they arrived, they found the rabbit taking cover beside a busy food truck.
“She must have sensed the good vegan vibes, sticking by the Chickpea food truck,” Rabbitat Rescue wrote on Instagram.
Without skipping a beat, the rescuers placed their x-pens all around the bunny’s hiding place, then waited for her to come out. When she eventually emerged, they quickly scooped her up, and Rabbitat Rescue’s Sorelle took her home for assessment.
You can read more about her rescue here:
At Sorelle’s house, the little bunny, whom they lovingly named Chickpea, appeared to be skittish at first. She would run away the minute she saw a human approaching her, but she eventually learned to trust Sorelle and began “greedily eating up kale when hand-fed.”
Before long, Chickpea’s bubbly personality began to emerge. She became increasingly interested in her caregivers, Sorelle and Felix, and would even escape her pen just to snuggle with them.
“Her gregarious spirit took her through her enclosure, out of the room, past various other bunnies, and cuddled up near a handsome boarder, Felix,” Rabbitat Rescue wrote.
While Chickpea quickly developed an affinity for her caregivers, the folks at Rabbitat Rescue do not believe she was someone’s abandoned pet. Instead, they believe she is a descendant of a domesticated bunny who was once dumped in the past — a common origin story for many of the rabbits in the area.
“There are thousands of feral domestics living outside in a local municipality (Richmond) that often travel in the undercarriage of cars to other municipalities,” Sorelle told The Dodo. “They don’t belong out there and are the offspring of past dumped pets.”
It’s not uncommon for a feral bunny in Richmond to accidentally hitch a ride to another city, but Chickpea ended up in a particularly dangerous area when she chose to hunker down at the fan festival. Thankfully, she was found just in time.
Chickpea has since been transferred to Rabbitat Rescue’s shelter for quarantine, where she’ll soon have access to supervised outdoor time every day as part of her rehabilitation, alongside two other rescued bunnies, Hubcap and Barbie.
While the team is heartbroken that she was ever in need of rescue, they’re incredibly grateful she found her way into their care.
“We’re happy to know her,” Rabbitat Rescue wrote.
