KILLING THE RABBIT

As a child, I rescued innumerable 'slightly' killed small animals from overly grateful cats who wanted to present me with their spoils - nursed them back to health if possible - disposed of the bodies when necessary.

As a young adult, I learned how to quickly and efficiently butcher pigs, cattle and sheep in the name of pursuit of a B.S. in Animal Science.

As an adult, I balanced (uneasily) between spurts of vegetarianism, high-protein diets, and trying to explain to extremely young children why sweet little animals were killed and where their spirits might go.

Now as an antediluvian (ain't that a great word?) I am happily settled between eating some meat, not eating some, and people who live both ways.

However, my dog Sofi is your completely normal carniveous dog who, as a labrador, is genetically predisposed to hunt - and kill - almost any warm-blooded creature smaller than her.

(With larger animals, Sofi is reduced to simply glaring at them menacingly)

But yesterday, she actually caught a rabbit.

I honestly think that Sofi is geared to only chasing small furry animals, and since she is quite well-fed ('volumptous' - 'healthy' - 'big-boned'), the inclination to EAT them is not present.

So she went right to the middle of the problem - literally.

It has been a long, long time since I have had to dispose of half of a body.