As hundreds of students played in the school yard at Wilfird Jury Public School on Tuesday, most had no idea a natural treasure was on site.
But not pupils Max and Addison Brown. They discovered a nest of five teeny, tiny bunnies, only about 20 steps from the basketball hoop.
Grade 2 teacher Amy Ebert was on yard duty and was alerted to the remarkable find.
The nest could fit in the palm of your hands, Ebert said. “Inside, little bunnies the size of eggs were all cuddled together.”
Ebert’s reaction? “Oh my gosh, this is amazing. We’re going to have some awesome learning”
Soon the principal was involved and a call was placed to Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre.
The centre’s founder and director, Brian Salt, came out to investigate.
The school learned the bunnies were about two weeks old.
Salt took the opportunity to talk to the young students about nature and how to respect it.
He explains why the nest was found so close to the school.
“It’s usually a dilemma because adult females will make their nests in an area where there’s…high traffic. I’m convinced they’re weighing the risk involved between their natural predators and that of humans and sometimes they’ll use humans…as a barrier against natural predators.”
The plan for the bunnies was to leave them in place at the schoolTuesday night to see if the mother comes back to feed them.
“They’re going to try to let nature take over,” said Ebert.
