Invasion of Privacy: Your bunnies away from home

For many Geneseo students, the time spent away from home can leave them missing their pets. Being away from the comfort of a familiar furry friend can be distressing; however, two adorable rascally rabbits have provided comfort not just to their owners, but to all Geneseo students that have the pleasure of meeting them. 

Jelly and Ash, ages six and “very young,” are bunnies living under the care of several students: junior sociomedical major Sophia Grazioso, junior psychology major Chelsea Elizabeth and junior English and education double major Emily Clinton. Along with their fourth housemate, these residents take care of, love and manage an Instagram for these rabbits. While Jelly and Ash belong to two of the students respectively, they have come to be an essential part of the household and an unofficial mascot of the townhouses. 

“I was surprised [about the Instagram page],” said Grazioso. “Within three days, we already had [around] 100 followers.” 

Clinton, the one who manages the account, remarked that this animal fame started with Jelly and that people frequently go up to Jelly and follow the page. 

Jelly has become a mascot at the school. His owners dress him in Geneseo gear and put him in a harness. Followers of Jelly’s Instagram have responded to his school spirit by asking for more content. 

While the Instagram account continues to remain popular, the bunnies have also been a welcome surprise for students passing by the residence as well.

“We’ll put them in the windows and people will be like ‘oh my god there's a bunny!’ and I’m just like ‘yeah, they’re here if you want to come [and] see them,’” one roommate said.

Grazioso added that some people question if the bunnies are dogs or if they are actually seeing a bunny in a harness.

People frequently stop to look at the bunnies, and the owners express encouragement for people to go up to them, as they know many people miss their own pets. The owners also feel that having these two bunnies benefits them a lot, and that they shower their animals with love. 

Grazioso remarks that Jelly has been a companion to her throughout her life, and that Ash is the newer one to their townhouse. 

“I’ve had bunnies my whole life, and it’s weird because when you think about bunnies you don’t think they do much, but every rabbit I’ve had has been completely unique,” said Grazioso. “With Jelly, he was given to me, but with Chelsea she had to adopt [Ash], but that was nice because we knew he was coming to a nice place, [and] as soon as Chelsea saw Ash she fell in love with him.”

The owners described these rabbits as energetic and independent. They act curiously, lovingly and charismatically.