It's Peru, Baby.

I've always had a romantic notion of rabbits, I think it might have something to do with the lovely Beatrix Potter crockery set I was given on my fourth birthday. But the cold truth about rabbits is far cry from those comforting images of Mrs. Rabbit putting Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail to bed, I'm afraid. As I have mentioned previously, when we first moved in with Tito's family there were about 48 rabbits living in cages on the roof. I was initially enchanted, but quickly gave up feeding and playing with them after the first time I discovered one of my favourites dished up on the table. Anyway, as the months passed, the family ate most of the rabbits. Eventually there were only two left, a male and a female. We were hoping they would make some more baby rabbits, and indeed, whenever I saw them, Mr.Rabbit seemed to be rather amorous, to say the least. Unfortunately, disaster struck. We noticed that one of Mr.Rabbit's furry little balls was swollen, and the other shrunken. It seemed Ms.Rabbit had had enough of Mr.Rabbit's romantic, yet frequently inaccurate attentions (Oi! That's my ear, you moron!), and had given him a chomp he wouldn't forget in a hurry. From then on, things deteriorated. Several weeks later, Mr.Rabbit committed suicide. He chewed through part of the wood of his cage and then impaled his neck on a piece of rusty wire. Though tragic, all was not doom and gloom. He was delicious. Then, happily, we discovered new life was on the horizon. Ms.Rabbit was pregnant. Tito's father knew when she started screeching, apparently pregnant rabbits do that. We eagerly anticipated her litter of bunnies. She, however, did not. Being a special pedigree type rabbit, she did not seem to have the normal motherly rabbit instincts. She did not prepare a nest for her impending brood, by even pulling out her own fur, as Peter Rabbit's mum would have. Then, last week she delivered five on a cold night. Ms.Rabbit wasn't at all interested, and didn't warm and shelter them with her body as rabbits normally do. The babies all died. Tito's father was really mad. He should have brought the unmotherly rabbit inside so the litter would have had a chance, but he wasn't to know she would be so lacking in maternal instincts.

Guess who's next in the pot?