Parents, Don’t Let Your Kids Go Down The Rabbit Hole

When I was about twelve to fourteen, I volunteered at my local zoo in a summer program. Every month, there was a free weekday where anyone could come to the zoo for free, and as one can imagine, during the summer these days were PACKED. The volunteers were prepped for insanity, but seeing is believing.

I was on a break for lunch and was walking by the rabbit enclosure in the children’s zoo with a friend. The rabbit enclosure at the time had a very short fence about two feet high, however, there was a short lawn of grass between the fence and the sidewalk and a rope fence separating the sidewalk from the lawn, so two barriers between the public and the live rabbits. This allowed kids to be able to see the short bunnies without obstruction, but with a clear indication that these were not petting animals.

As we were walking past, we saw that a kid, maybe two or three, had ducked under the rope fence and had begun to scale the small secondary wire fence to the rabbit enclosure. We are dumbfounded and start walking over just as the kid hops down and begins to chase the rabbits around.

The parent has since noticed, and we yell the kid can’t be in there as the dad starts to step over the rope and head toward the enclosure.

The dad steps over the second wire fence and goes to pick up the kid. The wave of relief that washes over me turns into bewilderment as the father turns around with his kid in his arms and then PUTS THE KID BACK DOWN TO PET SOME CORNERED RABBITS.

We repeat that he cannot be in there, and those rabbits are not for petting! The dad looks at us, doesn’t say anything, and then, as leisurely as can be, he picks his kid back up, steps over the two fences, and walks away.