[Groop] Funny bunny

[Tone]

	First off I have some pretty sad news. I know this will sound
completely off-topic at first, but bare with me. Like Groo comics there
is a humorous ending to all of this, which is fairly related to the
Groop.

	About a week ago our pet rabbit Spencer died. My wife had
Spencer for almost eight years ever since Spencer was only a couple of
months old, and Spence was very healthy up until about a month before we
moved from NYC to PA. For those, who do not know, depending on the breed
of a rabbit eight years is generally considered a fairly long time for a
rabbit to live. There was not much we could do because surgery is
usually not recommended in rabbits and especially risky with senior aged
rabbits. We think Spence was suffering from ovarian cancer, which is
pretty common in mature female rabbits.
	Unfortunately, the first veterinarian, who Spence was brought
to, did not recognize Spencer was actually a female. That was why
Spencer was given a boy's name. This is understandable because the
younger a rabbit is, the more undeveloped their sexual organs are, and
thus their sex is harder to determine. Luckily for Spencer, ever since
her first vet visit she never really had any health issues, but that
meant her sex status was not corrected when she was still young enough
to undergo surgery. If my wife had known Spencer was a girl, she would
have gotten her spayed earlier, which would completely eliminate the
risk of developing ovarian cancer.
	This part of my e-mail is not particularly related to Groo, but
I wanted to let people know the importance of spaying female pet
rabbits. I only got to know Spencer for a little over two years and I
consider myself fairly "manly", but I still cried and found it heart
braking to watch Spencer die in my wife's arms. I know a number of
Groopies on the list have children, who I imagine might actually have
pet rabbits. I would hate to think something as simple as not spaying
their rabbit could prevent their little life from hopping around a few
more years. Though it is rare, some rabbits have been known to live up
to twelve years, so Spence could very well have had a few more years in
her.

	So with that sad stuff out of the way let me get to the Groo
related part of this story, which might put a smile on your face. After
we got back from laying Spencer to rest in the backyard of my
parents-in-law, where all the pets of my wife's family have been buried,
we came back to an empty apartment. It did not take long for my wife to
miss having a rabbit around, so I agreed we could get another rabbit.
Even though I very much dislike having bunches of LITERAL dust-bunnies
of fur all over the place, my wife's happiness comes first. :)
	This time however my wife and I decided to each pick out a
rabbit for ourselves instead of only having one rabbit. Since my wife
had Spencer ever since Spence was a baby, my wife was always Spencer's
primary care taker. By having me pick out my own rabbit, it would make
me more directly involved. More importantly though rabbits are very
social creatures, so having two rabbits gives them company when people
are not around. Some rabbits have been known to become depressed when
alone for two long, which may cause them to become prone to eating
disorders and health problems.
	For the past few days my wife was looking at the web sites of
local animal shelters searching for bunnies. She had originally bought
Spencer from a pet store, but this time she wanted to rescue a rabbit.
We found a humane society not too far from us, which had some young
rabbits born while their mother was pregnant at the shelter, so
yesterday we drove over there and adopted two rabbits. :)
	We were able to take home one of the bunnies, which is a girl. I
THINK my wife finally decided to name her Marzipan, which is actually an
off-white sugary almond & egg paste used in making candies. The reason
for her name is because the little bunny is practically all white except
for an almond-colored muzzle and egg-yellow watermark-like patches
around the rear of her back, and of course she is sweet like candy. :)
	Now for the WHOLE reason of this post... the other rabbit I
picked out is a boy, who I automatically named "Sergio". The reason for
my choice is because the rabbit is all white, but has a black streak on
each side of his face along with black/grey rings around his eyes. The
black horizontal stripes on his face make him look like he has a little
mustache, and obviously the Sergio we all know and love is immediately
recognizable by his wonderfully endearing handlebar mustache. I would
try to grow one myself, but my wife really does not want me to. I guess
I will have to live the handlebar mustache dream through my bunny
rabbit. :)
	Unfortunately, I can not yet offer any photos to show you guys
at the moment, so this e-mail is just a teaser. I will have photos soon
after picking up Lil' Sergio Tuesday afternoon when the Lil' guy gets
his lil' balls snipped off by the animal shelter's vet before he can be
released. Even though he is a boy and there is no worry of ovarian
cancer, non-neutered rabbits will sometimes spray to mark territory and
tend to be more aggressive. Also, if we ever decide to get another
female rabbit in the future, we would not have to worry about Lil'
Sergio doing what rabbits do best. ;)
	I will post photo links as soon as I can. Best wishes everyone,
_TONE_