I sent that photo of cancer bunny off to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency this morning before I mowed.

When I opened the shade this morning, cancer bunny was nibbling away in a bed of clover ironically under the Yoshino cherry tree we call “the bunny tree.” It’s called that because that’s where we buried a bunny that had been living peacefully in our yard until the neighbor’s damn dog came over and ate on it.

I watched cancer bunny from the back window for what seemed like 15 minutes, but it was probably only two because I hadn’t made my coffee yet. I watched as a squirrel came up cautiously inspecting the bunny before scurrying off and tea-bagging another cherry tree’s mulch bed. I swear to God.

Anyway, I got a lot of good advice on what to do on Facebook. I sent the photo off to the TWRA while I had some coffee. I made a point to share what Gary Wake told me in comments that this is a young Jackalope. Before sending that along in an email, I looked that up on Wikipedia, and sure enough, that’s what it is!

Only Jackalopes are mythical creatures. They are not real, but darned if that Wikipedia wasn’t one step ahead of my inner moron. It said:

It is possible that the tales of jackalopes were inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus.

There we go. So, it now appears that cancer bunny is really booboo bunny! Roger Applegate at TWRA put it this way:

No worries as far as the bunny or your pets. Shope’s fibroma, which this probably is, is generally not fatal to rabbits and is transmitted by insect bite rather than by contact or contamination from an infected rabbit. Mosquitos, fleas and other common insect pests transmit the virus causing Shope’s between rabbits.   Dogs can get similar fibromas but these are a different causative agent than Shope’s. Shope’s virus is specific only to rabbits.

Roger D. Applegate
Small Game Coordinator
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

I can’t imagine booboo bunny can see very well, if at all, on its right side. That may make it easy prey.