Baby Bunny With 'Paralyzed' Hind Legs Zips Around on Mini-Skateboard Wheelchair
Wheelz the bunny was found stiff, frozen and with "paralyzed" hind legs.
— -- This baby bunny doesn't hop. He slides and glides his way around on a custom mini skateboard wheelchair -- entirely assembled from parts bought from a dollar store.
The young rabbit, who's been fittingly named Wheelz, has come a long way since he was found "stiff and frozen" a few weeks ago on Overlook Acres farm in Amsterdam, New York, according to the farm's owner Jason Ambrosino.
Ambrosino, 33, told ABC News today that he and his wife, Sonja Ambrosino, found Wheelz while they were doing a routine check on the farm during a recent cold spell. He explained that at least "one of the dominant female rabbits appeared to pulling babies out of their nest boxes," which was a problem because young litter can't survive the cold.
"When we first saw him curled up, we thought he may have been dead, but then we saw his nose twitch," Ambrosino said. "My wife brought him to me, and I held him close to warm him up and breathed hot air on him. Slowly but surely, he began to get more animated."
Ambrosino then took the bunny, who he said "couldn't have been more than a week old at the time," back to his house, where Christine Griffith and her husband Charlie Parker -- two friends who live and work on the farm -- nursed the baby bunny back to health.
Griffith and Parker noticed that Wheelz had bite marks on the top of his spine and that his hind legs were "paralyzed," Ambrosino said. He added that they planned on taking Wheelz to a veterinarian for an official diagnosis on Thursday.
But last week, Parker came home "with a toy skateboard and some other parts and pieces from a dollar store," and he built a mini skateboard wheelchair to help get the injured baby bunny back on the move, Ambrosino said.
"The first time we saw him on the skateboard, he just looked so happy," he said. "He was zipping around everywhere, and we took a couple of videos."
Ambrosino posted one of the videos to the farm's Facebook page, and it now has over 23.6 million views.
The farm family now plans on writing a children's book based on Wheelz' story, Amrosino said.
"Wheelz is a special rabbit," he said. "He's the only rabbit I've ever met who'd lick someone. He's super affection, a hard charger and a fighter."
