Thumper’s legacy lives on

Times Reporter

 

Some classrooms have had babies come in for the Roots of Empathy program, and another has had a bunny. Janice Sumner works at Westmount Elementary School, and for the past eight years Thumper has been by her side helping teach the kids. 

He taught the kids the TH sound which can be difficult for the grade one students to get used to. 

Bringing a bunny into a classroom is not something every teacher would think of doing, but with a little persuasion from her son, it’s exactly what Sumner did. She was at a garage sale and there was a bunny. The woman hosting the sale was trying to find a good home for the bunny. 

“Eight years ago, my son would have been eight, and he said ‘oh mom can we get the bunny, please, please’. And I said ‘what are we going to do with a bunny’. He said, ‘Mom it would make a great classroom pet it would be so good for your kids and you know it could kind of be your school pet and my pet’, and anyways he obviously convinced me,” said Sumner. The rabbit’s name was Mr. Bunny. That summer one of Sumner’s assistants offered to take the bunny home. Her husband accidently forgot to close the latch of the cage, which he had set outside, and Mr. Bunny ended up running away. The assistant had felt horrible about having the rabbit run away.

“She showed up in my classroom the following November with this little baby bunny, Thumper, to replace Mr. Bunny. It was totally like having a baby in the classroom,” said Sumner. Thumper was two months old when Sumner took over care of him, except for the summer when he would live with another family. 

“Grade one is a really difficult transition for some of the kids and he eases some of that transition,” said Sumner. She noticed this year at the start of school Thumper was not acting quite like himself. He was taken into the vet and the prognosis was not good. He had to be put down, only a few days after the initial interview with Sumner.   

“I really compared it to the Roots of Empathy. He taught hundreds of kids so many important aspects of animal care and what an animal is like, respecting animals and body language. He would go across the hallway to the other Grade One classes; especially the one with the carpet, he would rip around and do a little flip in the air we would call his happy dance,” said Sumner. “On the weekends when I would go in to see him he would run around in the hallway for about half an hour or so.”

She said he had an amazing personality. Often when sitting on the floor, Thumper would hop through the kids, sniffing out the one he was looking for and then would lie beside them waiting to be petted. 

Leah Heckle had two kids go through Sumner’s Grade One class, and she too compares Thumper to the Roots of Empathy program. 

“They always had stories about everything Thumper did everyday. I think it taught them empathy, and I think it taught them to care for something and show love towards something else,” said Heckle. 

“I know that he lived such an extended amount of time because of the wonderful array of fresh fruit and veggies he received on a daily basis from the children. What a great way to instill eating your fruits and veggies, just like Thumper. As well he was never just put in his cage, he roamed freely around the room all the time,” said Sumner. 

Some of the hundreds of kids whose life Thumper has been a presence in are now in high school. Sumner said she posted on Facebook about the death of her beloved bunny and many former students sent their regards to her. Sumner is not sure at this point if she will find another bunny, or other animal, to add to her classroom.