THE ONE EARED RABBIT THAT HELPS DISFIGURED CHILDREN
THE little boy sat in his wheelchair, alone and lost to the world. With a severe learning disability and physically disabled since birth, he was locked away inside himself.
Then he met Peter, the oneeared rabbit (right).
‘We’d put animal after animal in front of him but he ignored them all,’ explains owner Amanda Poulton. ‘But then he saw Peter. He reached out and touched his soft fur, then suddenly this huge smile lit up his face and he started laughing.
‘From that moment on, whenever we arrived at his play centre, he’d start screaming until I put the rabbit in front of him. He was absolutely transformed.’
Breakthroughs like this are exactly why the 45-year-old started non-profitmaking Alamanda Therapy Animals in 2011.
‘My mum was in a hospice and I’d take my American miniature horse Applause to see her,’ says Amanda. ‘The other residents loved him and that’s how it all started.’
Wanting to add to her stock of therapy animals, she decided on Rex rabbits, which have an unusually friendly temperament.
‘The moment I saw Peter and his late sister Flopsy, I knew I had to have them.
They had both lost an ear because their mother had overgroomed them and I knew it would mean a lot to the disfigured children they would meet. We would be able to say “this rabbit is different too but he’s still really cool”.’
Now seven-year-old Peter has plenty of fans, including teenager Cameron Edmonds (inset with the rabbit), who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Brandon Styles, 18, who attends Saint Francis Hospice.
‘They just love sitting there, stroking him,’ says Amanda. ‘It’s really calming.’
She and her furry crew have brought comfort to people in hospitals, hospices, care homes and sometimes people’s own homes. They have worked with soldiers suffering from PTSD and will soon visit an anorexia unit.
‘I have a rule,’ says Amanda. ‘I’m not allowed to show any emotion when I’m there. When I leave I can go around the corner and cry, but my job is to bring some joy to a difficult life and help families make memories. It’s a privilege.’