This morning I performed some deeds that would make Jack Montgomery and PETA proud. My father-in-law Jack was known to trap mice alive in his house and then release them unharmed in his yard and of course we know what PETA stands for; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

As is my custom I carried my iTunes player and the sports section of the Denver Post downstairs this morning to complete my set of exercises on the Bowflex. For those who have never been to our house, there are three very deep window wells in the basement with walls approximately eight feet high. Midway through my routine of arm and chest exercises I glanced at the window well closest to me and spotted a tiny bunny rabbit with its nose pressed against the window.

Bunny Trapped in Window Well

I continued on with my morning workout as I pondered ways to extract the fuzzy bunny from his or her predicament. I could open the window and remove the screen, but Jane had difficulty reinserting the screen in another window well, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go through that difficulty. What could I lower into the deep window cavity that would allow the captive rabbit to be elevated back to ground level?

As these thoughts were passing through my head, I was once again distracted by a cacophony of shrieking birds at one of the other window wells; the one where Jane had removed the screen and been unable to replace it. I wandered over to this window and much to my amazement there was a baby blackbird trapped in this window well. The small bird attempted to fly from the deep window well repeatedly but could only rise three to four feet before striking the walls and falling back to the ground. Meanwhile the mother and a host of related blackbirds hovered above the cavity and sqawked and shrieked like the world was coming to an end. Now my mind was diverted from the bunny to the distressed bird.

Trapped Baby Bird

The blackbirds must have built a nest in the Norwegian maple just behind the house because they have been relentlessly pestering our cat, Pip, for the last week. Amazingly they watch Pip’s every move even when he is within the house. Last night Pip moved from the great room to the front of the house, and I observed the adult blackbird fly by the side of the house so it could circle around and keep an eye on Pip while he was on the front side of the house. I surmise that somehow the bady bird tumbled from the nest in the maple tree and into the window well below and did not possess the requisite flying ability.

I finished my workout and decided to proceed with an animal rescue strategy. I spotted one of Jane’s crutches leaning against the wall and considered lowering this into the window wells from outside, but I guessed that rabbits do not possess climbing ability like a squirrel. I glanced over to the pile of Dan’s belongings and noticed some skis…again probably too smooth, but what about a ski pole? I had some extra long cross country ski poles in the garage and they had extra large baskets near the end.

First Attempt

Could I elevate the bunny and bird by using the ski pole basket as a makeshift elevator platform? It was worth a try so I moved to the garage and retreived Jane’s ski poles as they had larger baskets.

I circled around the front of the house to the window well along the side of the house and crouched on my knees and lowered the pair of long ski poles to the floor of the window well next to the scared bunny. I failed to allow for the 1.5 inch distance between the tip of the ski and the basket. The rabbit cowered in the corner on a cement ledge that surrounds the window and wouldn’t have anything to do with the escape platform being offered. Because the basket was an inch and a half above the tip, I couldn’t slide it under the little guy. I decided to temporarily abandon Mr. Bunny and move on to the feathered baby bird and its hovering not-so-friendly family.

Bunny Still Trapped

Once again I made a trip through the house and peered over the edge of the window well next to the patio and under the maple tree. The adults retreated to the tree only five feet away and resumed their raucous serenade while I lowered the ski poles to just below the small offspring. When the pole touched the little black feathered friend, it attempted to fly up in the same manner I’d witnessed, but before it could fall back, I followed with the ski pole and it temporarily perched on the basket and then resumed its attempt at flight. I was able to boost the bird enough so that its next attempt at flight catapulted it over the rim of the window well and on to the ground from whence it immediately scurried under the trumpet vine growing out of control in front of the air conditioner unit. My work here was done and it was now up to the helicopter mom to take over its parenting responsibilities.

My thoughts returned to the sweet little bunny rabbit, and I quickly resigned myself to the need to open the window. But how would I prevent the quick little bunny from bounding into my basement? The thought of chasing a baby rabbit around the basement and under boxes, Christmas decorations and Dan’s life possessions was not appealing. In short order the vision of a fishing net flashed across my brain so I once again made a move to the garage and pulled down my $10 fishing net. I descended the stairs and unlocked the window and slid it open and then examined the screen.

Second Rescue Implement

There were tiny black tabs and I pushed them outward and dislodged the screen from its position, and as I leaned the screen against the window wall, I grabbed my net and gently wedged it beneath the gray bunny and forced it to fall into the webbing. The rabbit made a futile attempt to escape the net, but I shook it so it nestled deeply in the pouch and quickly raced up the stairs and out the front door and then crossed the street to the greenbelt that separates 35th Avenue into east and westbound lanes. I released my furry friend next to an evergreen tree and and watched as it gleefully hopped to its freedom. My friend’s fate now depends on its youthful resourcefulness to survive in the wild, if one can refer to the Stapleton development as the wild.

Success