Albino hare provides plenty of love, but owner cautions others

One Easter bunny has drawn quite a bit of attention through the years, as a Willow resident is raising the world's only known albino snowshoe hare.

And while she loves the hare, she cautions people that raising hares isn't something people should try -- a message that is especially important around the Easter holiday, when some may be thinking about trying to domesticate hares or purchase bunnies.

"Over the years a few people have found baby hares and brought them to me, not knowing what they were and how they survive. I ask them to show me where they found them and I return them to the exact spot," said Sylva Timiniski, a Willow artist who goes simply by her first name.

Sylva came across Kugi and another little brown rabbit about four years ago, after her dog Teddy was killed in front of her house. Her husband, Bill, found the two hares and brought them home, as Sylva collects rare rabbit and hare things.

Sylva said she noticed how little the bunnies were, which wasn't consistent with other bunnies she had raised.

After one turned completely white, she started asking around and found out Kugi was the only reported albino snowshoe hare in the world. Brownie, the second hare, eventually died, however.

Kugi has become part of Sylva's family.

"She comes out and begs every morning for food and hops up on a stool to eat dinner at the table with us at night," Sylva said. "We give her homemade bread and sometimes she chews them into hearts."

Sylva's garden contains more than 2,000 heart-shaped rocks, so that last point isn't lost on Kugi's owner.

Lately, however, Kugi has come under a serious medical problem, as her teeth and mouth abscesses in her jaw have required radical procedures.

To help pay for the surgeries, Sylva -- an internationally known watercolor artist -- has painted notecards as well as a floral watercolor Gicle/ print, which sells for $200. The cards are available in animal food stores around the Valley, as well as Town Square Art Gallery, Willow Hardware, Newman's Hilltop and Willow Town Site Texaco.

"People have really been supportive of Kugi," Sylva said. "But they shouldn't try to raise hares themselves."

Hares can weigh up to four pounds. After they are born, they hop away from the nest and hide in different places, returning to the nest to feed. That's why Sylva said people shouldn't assume a baby hare is abandoned and try to "rescue" it by taking it in.

"You may find lone baby and think that it has been abandoned. In the case of Kugi this was true, but most of the time they are just hiding in the grass waiting for nightfall," she said.

Hares are herbivores that eat leaves, grasses, berries, bark and herbs. Hares can be found everywhere, except Antarctica.