AUBURN – When a dozen noisy sixth-graders rush into Lori Rioux’s classroom, Fez doesn’t even flinch.
Sitting under a desk, the black and white rabbit nonchalantly licks his front paw while the kids squeal with delight. Fez is usually in his cage when they get there.
“Fez is loose!” says a girl with a pink hair ribbon.
The kids pet him, admiring his soft fur and silky ears before they settle down for math. When Fez returns to his cage, he stretches out for a nap.
It’s the life of a classroom bunny.
“They just love him,” Rioux says. “They get a chuckle out of him. He’ll wiggle his nose or whatever, and they giggle.”
Rioux, a sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at St. Peter’s and Sacred Heart School, got the bunny last fall when he was a baby and could fit in one hand. Eighth-graders named him Fez after a character on TV and as an acronym for Furry Excitable Zippy.
He lazes in his cage that’s perched near a window so he can get the sun. But loose in the classroom, he dashes among the desks, jumping and twisting midair.
“He just spazzes out,” says 12-year-old Colin Borgal.
After a mouse’
Over the past seven months, Fez has been litter-box trained and socialized. He’s grown into a bravely curious, teenage rabbit with a penchant for trouble.
He chewed a computer mouse wire several weeks ago. When Rioux left the classroom door open another day, she found Fez hopping down the school’s tiled hallway.
In the classroom, he’s gotten so used to noise that he creates his own when it gets too quiet.
“It never fails. Whenever we have a test or a quiz, he likes to chew on his (cardboard) box. He likes to be loud,” Rioux said.
Rioux wanted to share Fez with children who didn’t have pets of their own. She takes him to visit very young students, who marvel over how fast he’s grown.
In her classroom, older students love his energy, his antics, his comical yawns. On stressful days, he can be a soft friend when friends can be hard to find.
“A lot of kids, when they’re having a bad day, they go watch him for a while and they feel better,” said Rioux. “He’s so cute.”
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