We found a lot of information about pet rabbits from the internet and tried best to fulfill all their requirements as house-rabbits. When they grew larger, we realized that they needed a larger space to move about. Later, we decided to let the rabbits live outside. We have a large compound with some trees and the fence surrounding the area is cemented. We thought this was a good and safe place for our rabbits. We soon discovered that the rabbits loved being outside digging their own tunnels. They loved playing among the grass, sit on large boulders, groom their fur on the bench at the porch and making a labyrinth of secret tunnels among the grass. They always prefer to rest on raised places such as on our shoe-rack, on large boulders, benches and on top of our large water container.

We even took them along for a drive during weekends, usually to the beach or to an abandoned air strip. The four of us would have a good time together. There, Labu and Adik would run, eat grass, smell the fresh air but their best shows were when they made high abrupt vertical jumps into the air! Once in a while they would come to us and as usual we would offer some treats from our food container. They like to eat fried banana, cakes, biscuits and fruits.

 At home Labu and Adik still spent a lot of time inside the house. We had our telephone cable chewed by them but we realized that they were rabbits and rabbits chew things. When my wife came home from work, they would welcome her by pushing their heads together as if offering them to us so that we could give soft strokes, groom them and even clean their ears. They would close their eyes and stay flat on the floor for a long time. They would sleep under a bench at the porch.

 However, our excitement of having pet rabbits did not last long. One afternoon, me and my wife went shopping about 10 kilometers away. We were in town for about 5 hours. When we returned we realized that our stools, shoes, dustbins and a lot of plastic bags were strewn as if blown forcefully and scattered along the fence at the back of our house. There must had been a strong wind without rain. Labu and Adik were nowhere to be seen. Like being struck by her sixth sense, my wife gave a worry look at me and began calling our Labu and Adik. A few seconds later, my wife screamed and broke into tears. I ran quickly and when I realized moments later, I was firmly holding my wife in my arms holding back a grotesque feeling that was so strange and so saddening. Looking down, there were Labu and Adik half submerged in the water container, dead. The lid was blown away like every other thing and laid next to the fence. Until today, we still could not understand the way it happened. When we talked about every possible ways it could happen, we would find ourselves imagining the gruesome event of both our rabbits struggling desperately to get out of the water.

 In tears, we buried Labu and Adik at one corner of  our garden and we planted some flowers. Deep in our hearts, Labu and Adik will always be remembered dearly but yet we realized that there are things we cannot control.

April 1999
Kuala Penyu, Sabah