Kuipo

This morning at around 9:30 am, Kuipo passed away in my arms. We felt it was kindest to euthanize her after her health began failing dramatically yesterday. I’m not going to discuss the details, but she had been sick for a long time and we knew this day was coming.


Kuipo was the most remarkable rabbit I have ever known. Steve and I have owned seven rabbits and fostered more than twenty. Kuipo was without a doubt the most personable, amusing, sweet and intelligent rabbit I have ever dealt with. She would lick your hands, loved to be petted and would jump into your lap to get attention.


Kuipo is a misspelled Hawaiian word meaning “sweetheart” and it was certainly appropriate. She came into the animal shelter emaciated and weak. At the time, the shelter was overflowing with rabbits and I was a volunteer there. The rabbit rescue I worked with was pulling as many rabbits on the euthanasia list as they could, but we couldn’t pull them all. One day as I was wrapping up my work with the rabbits, I was told that Kuipo (who at the time didn’t have a name) was going to be euthanized at the end of the day if she was not adopted. Something about her told me that she was exceptional and I informed the director of the rescue that I was taking her home myself.

I took Kuipo to the next adoption fair, which is where she got her name. Tired of the more generic rabbit names, the rescue director was asking around for more creative ones. The Hawaiian manager of the PetsMart (where the fair was held) suggested Kuipo. It seemed perfect for her. And after talking to potential adopters all day, I decided that the best place for Kuipo was with us. So, she became bunny #4 (we had Buster, SweetPea and Demetri at the time).

She was an amazing part of our lives for around five years (I don’t know exactly when we got her… I have her adoption paperwork somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it right now) but it felt like we’d had her forever (in a very good way). It’s pretty devastating to look at the empty place where her cage used to be, and I find myself more affected by her passing than that of any of the previous three rabbits who died in our care.

Now, we have four rabbits: Buster, Demetri, Johnny & Lola. While I know four is a much more reasonable number of bunnies in a household than our peak of six, our home feels a little bit empty now.