Friendship Was Sheer Hoppenstance Rabbit Finds Home On The Back Of The Llama Next Door

Beethoven has found a warm, snuggly friend in the Sundance Kid, the llama next door.

Beethoven, a rabbit, started out as an Easter purchase and lived in a cage for three years before he escaped. His owners repaired the cage, but then decided to set him free.

Next door, the Wildrose Llamas farm beckoned.

After nearly a year on his own, Beethoven nuzzled up to an 8-year-old gelded male named Sundance Kid last November, and a friendship was struck.

The bunny chose the back of a fuzzy llama over a wood-framed cage.

Beethoven has scratched out a nest in the matted brown and white wool on his friend’s broad back.

“I never knew it was getting on (the llama’s back) until I saw the little indentation - that’s the first thing I noticed,” said David Alldridge, who with his wife owns the farm, just west of Eugene. “Then one evening I came in the pen to feed them their grain and the rabbit was on (the llama’s) back, and I said, ‘So that’s what’s doing it.”

Beethoven sleeps in his fur nest when it’s cold. He even goes for morning rides when there’s a nip in the air that makes getting out of bed unappealing.

“I don’t know what he’s doing in the warmer weather, but this morning at 6:30, they were lying side-by-side here,” Alldridge said. “One thing he knows is that if he shows up when we’re feeding (the llamas), he’s going to get something to eat.”

The folks at the International Llama Association in Denver say llamas are pretty laid-back, but they’ve never heard of anything like this.

Alldridge notes that llamas tend to get along with other farm animals, and are miserable when kept alone.

“I’ve seen the rabbit in the evening come over and stand up on (Sundance’s) leg, like he’s saying, ‘C’mon, lie down so I can climb on. I’m ready to go to bed.”’