Meet Bailey
Bailey died on the 30th March 2006 aged only 4 years. He had been
admitted to the vets in the later stages of his illness as his kidneys
failed. Inexplicably, Jamie and I felt the need to go and visit Bailey
the morning that he died and when we arrived and Jamie said his name,
he lifted his head and locked eyes with me with the same intensity that
he did when I had first caught sight of him 4 years previously. As I
opened the kennel door he wobbled into my arms, pressed himself against
me and collapsed. He was waiting for us to say goodbye. A last amazing
gift from the rabbit who changed our lives.Over the last days of his life our vet Ivan and the team of nurses had tried absolutely everything they could to save him. Ivan had looked in every book, tried every treatment, phoned every specialist, faxed every clinic and worked more hours than he was paid for but Bailey couldn’t be saved. It was time for him to move on and if ever a rabbit deserved to hop off to find his heaven it was Bailey.
Bailey was our first rabbit. We had been fostering some guinea pigs for Bobtails Rescue when a friend called me to say she had taken a baby rabbit off a man who was keeping him in his wood working shop and trying to give him away as a freebie with the hutches he made. I agreed, with some trepidation, to go and fetch him and keep him with us until Bobtails had room for him. The very moment Bailey and I locked eyes in my friends house that day I knew he was special but I had no idea of the impact he was to have on our lives. We named him “Bailey” simply because it seemed to suit him. It was immediately obvious that Bailey was too big to go into our guinea pig hutches and he didn’t seem to want to be contained anyway. He wanted to play and to be with us constantly and he really made us laugh with his antics and affection. So, Bailey moved into our kitchen and into our hearts. I fell in love totally with Bailey and have never before and probably never will again, love as totally and unconditionally as I loved him. Jamie often joked (knowing full well that many a true thing is said in jest) that he played second fiddle to Bailey in my affections!
We know now that he hopped into our lives with a higher purpose; to show us just how amazing rabbits are and to inspire us to do more for rabbit welfare. When we realised that beautiful, intelligent creatures like Bailey were locked in little hutches in countless gardens, alone and bored for years on end we knew we had to act and it wasn’t enough to do something small. We were so shocked by their plight that we set about the formation of what is now Green Fields Rescue. Now he is gone from us physically but the legacy that Bailey left is the rescue centre that was formed around him. Without Bailey there would be no rescue and he therefore changed not only the course of our lives but also the lives of the hundreds and hundreds of rabbits that have passed through our rescue centre since. We have a huge amount to thank him for and the very best way we can think of to do that is to continue to rescue rabbits to the very highest standard in his honour and remember him with joy and thanks so, Bailey will continue to be the rescues guide and mascot. In the days following his death our friends Andy and Linda sent us an email with this quote that describes his role brilliantly: “Green Fields Rescue is a great achievement, but no-one ever achieves anything by themselves. I think it was Newton that said that he did not develop his theories on his own, but was in fact "standing on the shoulders of giants". The fact that the giant that you were standing on was small and fluffy doesn't make him any less of a giant. Every time you look around you, you should take some satisfaction in the fact that the three of you built up something so special.”
Bailey had a magnetic effect on every single person who met him. He would come charging up to everyone who visited the house or rescue, ears on “full beam” and nose going 19 to the dozen to greet them. We lost count of the number of people who exclaimed “He’s so friendly!” and “I had no idea rabbits could be like that!” People were stunned that Bailey knew his name, would come when he was called, could identify his toys and would (usually!) go “home” when asked to. We saw the expressions on peoples faces when we told them that all rabbits could be like Bailey. Saw them realise, as we had, that rabbits are getting a seriously raw deal. He changed opinions, educated people, made them laugh and touched lives, lots of them. Not many rabbits do that in their lifetime. He was extraordinary and special in every single way.
For all the higher purposes that he had he was also our very grounded house rabbit who shared our daily lives for his 4 short years. His huge personality filled every corner of our home and it will be so hard for us not to hear the “flomp flomp flomp” of him bounding up the stairs to see us in the morning, the jingle of his toys that he loved to throw around and the way he would jump up and race for the back door whenever it was opened so that he could go and “do his rounds” inspecting the ranks in the rescue. We wont miss the fact that we had to hide the remote control to stop him eating the buttons and armour every cable in the house to prevent fried rabbit! (although we will, of course, miss exactly that kind of thing!) He gained the name “Mr Binkster” because of the huge happy leaps and “binkies” he would do around the house and garden. It was a joy to watch him having such fun and its those times we want to remember. Its hard because the void he has left seems almost cavernous at times.
But more than anyone, the life he changed the most was that of his bunny partner Misty. Misty and Bailey were a love at first sight match and Misty worshipped the very ground he hopped on from day 1. His love and confident demeanour changed Misty from the afraid and insecure rabbit who first came to us into the confident, trusting and outgoing rabbit she is now. Bailey and Misty were never out of one anothers sight for long so adapting to life without him will be dreadful for Misty and utterly heartbreaking for us to see her go through. We hope very much that she will accept the comfort of another bunny when the time is right and until then, we will do all that we can to make her loss a little easier.
In the days following Baileys death, we were amazed to be inundated by cards and letters from people telling us what a difference Bailey had made to them and from those sympathising with the loss we were feeling. But this quote stuck out as particularly poignant:
“Some animals come into your life and go again quickly. Others stay a while, leaving their footprints on your heart and you are never the same.”
Indeed his footprints will be imprinted on our hearts forever and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Thankyou Bailey for inspiring us and changing our lives. Binky free Mr Binkster. Binky free.
