My rabbit mutilated my bird

[Euph]

Rabbit has been with me 3 years, speyed female. She has full access to hay 24-7, fed a bowl of greens every night and lots of treats, including outside time in a large, enclosed backyard every few days.
I love her a lot but I don't know how to feel about her now, she was in my room with my budgie, my precious budgie boy passed away and fell to the floor (I hope... and from evidence) but I was away, she then proceeded to mutilate his body, including pulling feathers off off him, eating his beak fully and one of his legs. I estimate she was with him for at least 5 hours.
(I feel I should mention my budgie had many spaces up high to seek refuge in my large room.)

Please somebody help me comprehend this, I am in such a state and just need a stable word. She was my vegetarian buddy.

It makes me want to sell her because I don't know if I can ever look at her the same, but I do love her a lot. What can I even say...

 

[JBun]

Please don't blame her. It's actually an instinctual behavior in rabbits, especially for female rabbits, to rid her nest or territory of something that might attract predators. Mother rabbits will sometimes do this when they have a nest with kits and if any have passed away. They will consume the afterbirth and any deceased kits to rid the nest of the smell to keep predators from being attracted to the area.

As disturbing and wrong this trait may feel to us seeing rabbits as herbivores, your bun was only doing it as an instinct to keep her home safe. I'm very sorry for the passing of your bird and the upsetting aftermath of what you are having to deal with.

 

[LizzyMayHarvey]

I am so sorry for the loss of your precious budgie. I can sort of understand how you are feeling. We had three mini lops when I was little and a very friendly but obsessive and big German Shepherd called Bolt. Bolt would circle the bunnies run area to the point where he made a dirt track in the grass from the excessive pacing. We always had to make sure Bolt was locked up somewhere when our buns had their free roaming time because we didn't know what he would do to them and we didn't want to find out. Anyway, one day we came home and me and my sister (around the 8-10 year old mark) found one of our precious buns bodies. I rushed my little sister inside and my brother and dad went to deal with everything because we were so distressed. It turned out that two of our bunnies had escaped from a broken part of the cage and our dog Bolt had either chased them till they died of stress or a heart attack, or he "played" with them. They were not mangled or anything so I do not think he went savage, just way to excited. I lost my crazy, weird, one-of-a-kind bunny that day but I don't hate Bolt. He was just being a dog and following his hunting instincts. Bolt is still with us today which is the reason my buns aren't indoor buns and he never even sees our bunnies now because they live in the front yard where he never goes. I forgave Bolt very quickly and don't think of him as a killer as he is the sweetest dog but it did take my mum a while to get over the whole thing and we didn't have any bunnies for a while after because it would be too hard to replace those crazy beasties. Maybe because I was young I didn't see the need to blame Bolt but if he ever did anything to my babies now then I don't know what I'd do.
Anyway, I know it must have been really hard to see but I hope you don't blame your bunny. As JBun said, she was just following her instincts and cleaning up. Animals have some disturbing and sometimes horrific things they do that we can't control or think is wrong but it's just part of their nature.

 

[Euph]

Please don't blame her. It's actually an instinctual behavior in rabbits, especially for female rabbits, to rid her nest or territory of something that might attract predators. Mother rabbits will sometimes do this when they have a nest with kits and if any have passed away. They will consume the afterbirth and any deceased kits to rid the nest of the smell to keep predators from being attracted to the area.

As disturbing and wrong this trait may feel to us seeing rabbits as herbivores, your bun was only doing it as an instinct to keep her home safe. I'm very sorry for the passing of your bird and the upsetting aftermath of what you are having to deal with.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, your words brought some comfort to me, it is just so hard to accept. I wouldn't expect that behaviour from a never bred, speyed female but I am no expert. I will mull over it in the next week and hopefully I'll feel better.

 

[Euph]

I am so sorry for the loss of your precious budgie.❤ I can sort of understand how you are feeling. We had three mini lops when I was little and a very friendly but obsessive and big German Shepherd called Bolt. Bolt would circle the bunnies run area to the point where he made a dirt track in the grass from the excessive pacing. We always had to make sure Bolt was locked up somewhere when our buns had their free roaming time because we didn't know what he would do to them and we didn't want to find out. Anyway, one day we came home and me and my sister (around the 8-10 year old mark) found one of our precious buns bodies. I rushed my little sister inside and my brother and dad went to deal with everything because we were so distressed. It turned out that two of our bunnies had escaped from a broken part of the cage and our dog Bolt had either chased them till they died of stress or a heart attack, or he "played" with them. They were not mangled or anything so I do not think he went savage, just way to excited. I lost my crazy, weird, one-of-a-kind bunny that day but I don't hate Bolt. He was just being a dog and following his hunting instincts. Bolt is still with us today which is the reason my buns aren't indoor buns and he never even sees our bunnies now because they live in the front yard where he never goes. I forgave Bolt very quickly and don't think of him as a killer as he is the sweetest dog but it did take my mum a while to get over the whole thing and we didn't have any bunnies for a while after because it would be too hard to replace those crazy beasties. Maybe because I was young I didn't see the need to blame Bolt but if he ever did anything to my babies now then I don't know what I'd do.
Anyway, I know it must have been really hard to see but I hope you don't blame your bunny. As JBun said, she was just following her instincts and cleaning up. Animals have some disturbing and sometimes horrific things they do that we can't control or think is wrong but it's just part of their nature.
❤

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it's nice to be able to relate to others stories, even though they are sad.
It's the guilt and not knowing is what's really eating my brain, I wonder if my Budgie suffered before his death, if I could have done more to prevent, is morbid but I suppose it does no good now. I hope time will heal this.

 

[Apollo’s Slave]

I'm so sorry about your budgie, that is honesty so heartbreaking to hear. As JBun said, it is just natural instinct what your bun did, but I am so sorry that it happened and you had to witness it to a beloved friend, nonetheless. I hope you're doing okay, and maybe your bunny can help comfort you