--- title: "Someone’s Pet Bunnies Dug Up Ancient Human Remains" description: "A garden hole dug by some bunnies in the Netherlands led to the discovery of at least three humans' remains — a particularly grim finding." date: "2022-08-17" modified: "2022-08-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bunnies-human-remains" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "bones" - "human remains" - "rabbit" - "the digest" --- # Someone’s Pet Bunnies Dug Up Ancient Human Remains ![A garden hole dug by some bunnies in the Netherlands led to the discovery of at least three humans' remains — a particularly grim finding.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Bad Bunnies They're cute, they're cuddly — and they're apparently graverobbers. As [the Netherlands' *Dutch News* reports](), police in the city of Amersfoort were called when some kids' pet rabbits dug up what appeared to be bones in their garden earlier this week. The subsequent excavation, which reportedly took all night, apparently caused quite the stir in the neighborhood, especially once they found a human skull. Subsequent testing revealed that the bones dated back to between the 1880s and 1900 — a reminder that the cities we take for granted can occasionally spill out dark, ancient secrets. ## Gravediggers Bizarrely enough, this isn't the first time this summer that animals have made headlines for digging up human bones. Last month, reports emerged that a British granny has been subject to a stream of human bones being left by badgers who dig them up and leave them for her to find. As [the *BBC* reports](), the woman called her daughter "in hysterics" when she saw a skull in her garden, which lies close to a nearby church graveyard. The skull, her daughter said, was just the beginning of 88-year-old woman's problems. Soon, other bones began cropping up. "We didn't realize how much worse the situation was going to get," Lloyd told the *BBC*. "Since then, she's been having femurs, skulls, the bottom part of a chin, jawbones, you name it coming into the garden." Police subsequently sectioned off the elderly woman's property and began treating it as a crime scene — because really, what else can you do in that kind of situation? The prospect of waking up to bones in your yard is likely really freaky to imagine — unless, of course, you're a cat owner and know that [presenting their humans with dead things]() is a sign of affection. **READ MORE:** [Rabbits dig up remains of at least three people in a garden]() \[*Dutch News*\] **More bones:** *[Disturbing Discovery Finds That Space Does Something Bad to Astronauts' Bones]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()