Bunny's rescue from sewer basin is a reminder of the goodness of people

MONROE — One recent afternoon, Monroe resident Doreen Kime was outside with her son awaiting the return of the middle school bus on Forestdale Avenue and saw neighbors crowded around a catch basin. A tiny wild bunny, perhaps only four inches long, had fallen into the basin. Many of the things that unfolded next mirrors many of the elements in a good Disney movie: Scary things happen, sadness and happiness are part of the plot, a great rescue takes place, valor and perseverance reigns, kindness counts and perhaps most importantly, goodness prevails. Here is this true-life script: Just before falling into the catch basin, the bunny and a sibling had left their nest under a neighbor’s front bush. Both were hopping around together on the front lawn. Neighbors told her, Kime recounted, a crow suddenly swooped down and grabbed the sibling, mauling it to death while neighbors watched in horror. The surviving bunny frantically ran off, apparently looking for its mother. But in its quest to find protection, it ran onto the top of the catch basin and fell in, dropping four to five feet below street level into two to three inches of water. Only its shivering head was visible as it struggled to keep its head above water, Kime said. Its mother, Kime added, seemed to sense something was wrong, peering out from under the bush. “The neighbors may have been thinking it was this bunny’s time to go, but me - being the animal lover that I am - felt that bunny needed to be saved,” said Kime. “I called the Monroe police and in my sweetest voice possible, I told them, ‘We have a bunny that fell down the sewer and is there anything you can do to help?’” Minutes later, Brian Smith, the Village of Monroe public works superintendent, drove up. The department was closed for the day, but Smith had stayed behind and was there to receive the police call, asking if he could help. “I said, ‘A baby bunny fell,’” Kime said. “‘You have to get out of the car and see him, please!’ He looked at me and I looked at him. Then he said, ‘Okay, we can do this.’” “She told me her story,” recalled Smith. “She was with her son and she was upset that the little guy was stuck down there.” Smith first attempted to raise the heavy top with a pry bar, but that didn’t work. He then told her he needed to get back to the department’s office and get some additional equipment. Like a Disney hero in the midst of a rescue, Smith went to the Town of Monroe’s Department of Public Works office, the closest location to Forestdale Avenue. The village and town DPWs have a good working relationship and frequently assist each other, said Smith. Moments later Smith returned, followed by a town backhoe driven by village DPW employee Jesse Hedges and town DPW employee Frank Beams in his own vehicle. The backhoe quickly pulled up to the catch basin, positioned itself and pulled the basin’s top off. Smith slid down and placed the shaking bunny in his gloved hands, rising up to show Kime and her two children. He then placed the bunny down and it quickly ran back to its nest. Presumably, the bunny and its mother were reunited. “It was priceless to me, “ said Kime, who unofficially named the bunny “Smitty” in honor of Smith’s good deed. “He (Smith) went that extra step and got his guys to help him. He didn’t say no. That little guy was saved.” It wasn’t the first time Smith climbed down into a catch basin. “I’ve been doing this work all my life, but it was the first time getting a rabbit out,” he said. “It makes you feel good … doing good for Smitty … doing good for the community. That’s why we’re here. I told my wife it was a nice end to the day.”