One September day in 2004, Gaby Redin (sueet2b) was driving with her boyfriend through a busy roundabout in her adopted country of Italy when she saw something hopping right next to the car. They pulled over and found a rabbit.
"He was so cute," Redin tells PEOPLEPets.com. "He was just hopping from one little weed to another, and as we sat there staring, we felt so sad that he might get hit by a car."
They decided to take him to the more peaceful countryside and release him there, but they never made it to the countryside.
"In the car, I slowly pet him and he was shaking, he was so scared," Redin says. "After that, I couldn't give him up."
A few days later, Redin noticed something was odd about her new bunny, whom she suspects had been abandoned by his previous owners in August, which is typically when Italians go on vacation – and sometimes leave their pets to fend for themselves.
"I would pass him with the vacuum cleaner, and he wouldn't budge," she says. "One day, I came home and he didn't move when I walked through the door. I would clap my hands really loudly from behind him and he wouldn't notice."
The rabbit, named Chikee, was totally deaf. It ended up being less of a setback for Chikee and worked to his family's advantage. He can be toted around Florence, where Redin lives, and can be approached by dogs or stand outside during a fireworks festival and remain unfazed.
Redin and Chikee are well-known in Florence, and they are regular fixtures at local stores, restaurants and pizzerias. A leashed rabbit also gets plenty of attention from tourists. "They take more pictures of him than they do of monuments," Redin says. "He just keeps on walking."
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