Coney Dewclaw

Coney Dewclaw is a character in Bill Holbrook's online comic strip Kevin and Kell, and is the daughter of Kevin and Kell Dewclaw, the two main characters.

Biography

Coney was born in late October 1995; while she appeared as a rabbit, she had a carnivorous diet, biting into the zebra nurse’s arm. Kevin initially cared for her at home, as Herd Thinners did not provide maternity leave for Kell. When Elanor Dewclaw, Coney's grandmother, moved into their house in 1998, she began looking after Coney during the day. She will likely continue to do so until Coney no longer requires it; she and Kell realize that carnivore day care centers cannot guarantee Coney’s safety, and herbivore day care centers will not accept a rabbit that could eat one of the other childrenKell: "Look, Kevin... none of the preschools for herbivores will accept Coney, and the ones for carnivores can't guarantee her safety"("July 21, 1997")] Elanor: "Carnivore day care centers won't ensure the safety of a bunny, and herbivore centers reject her for being a predator!"("December 22, 2005")] . However, some predators realize that her external appearance belies a deadly predator; Lindesfarne notes on her blog that Coney takes part in "Carnivore Swim" at a local pool.

Coney has spoken her first word, (officially "salt"), and is now saying rudimentary and sometimes ungrammatical sentences; she expresses a desire to see her paternal grandmother Dorothy with "Me visit udder gamma (other grandma) too!".

Role in the Plot

Coney is often featured independently, perhaps more often than her parents and half-siblings. "A Christmas For Coney" included several of Coney's misadventures while she was lost a few days before Christmas, including eating out of, and later making a deposit in, a Salivation Army pot, helping a needy cow, giving hardened milk (officially cheese) to some mice, stopping a bank robbery and saving her grandfather’s life.

Many of the rabbit characters take interest in Coney. After Lindesfarne posts the news that Coney spoke her first word on her blog, rabbit families begin contacting Kevin with requests for arranged marriages; he is attempting to repel such requests, as he considers arranged marriage "an archaic, backward tradition." The rabbit community's reason for doing so is because they know that she, being half-wolf, will not attack relatives, or "pack members"Kell: "So why do these rabbit families want to arrange for their infant sons to marry Coney in twenty years? They know that she's half-wolf!!!" Rudy: "And that she doesn't attack anyone related to her." Kevin: It's self-preservation. ("May 5, 2005")] . This is also the reason Kevin used to convince his mother to visit Coney; he possibly believed that she might grow up and unknowingly eat her own grandmotherKevin: "Mom, won't you at least visit us to meet your newest grandchild?" Dorothy: No! She's a predator! Why would I want to?" Kevin: So she'd recognize you as a relative if she ever encountered you in the Wild." ("November 2, 2005")] . Rabbit’s Revenge also planned on breeding carnivorous rabbits from Coney, in order to drive other species to extinction, but Kevin, George and Danielle thwarted their plans by destroying their computers.Danielle "What would you do with her?" Rabbit's Revenge Member 1: Breed her, of course! With enough killer rabbits in the population, carnivores wouldn't know who to attack!" Rabbit's Revenge Member 2:"We'd all be safe!" Rabbit's Revenge Member 1:"And with our reproductive abilities, we'd soon overrun the globe!" Rabbit's Revenge Member 2:"Every other species would be driven to extinction!"("September 14, 2003")]

Coney formerly played with Harcourt Ursal (Majorie Ursal’s grandson and Minora Ursal’s son), Nigel Aura and “Mary” (otherwise known as Dolly, Corrie’s clone). However, as the Ursals have moved to Florida, Mary’s foster parents have moved to New Zealand and Nigel and Catherine Aura have traveled through the time portal to the human world, it is unlikely that the playgroup will reunite. She is currently starting to socialize with Francis Fennec, who, as her aunt Danielle and George's son, is her paternal cousin.

Diet

Coney’s diet is also a major issue. She is technically an omnivore, able to eat all types of food, but being a born hunter, generally only eats meat. However, she can be fooled into thinking that vegetables and fruit are prey; for example, Dorothy carves a face into a head of lettuce and hands it to Coney, then attempts and fails to convince Kell that Coney eats vegetablesDorothy: "See? She is a vegetarian" Kell:"Sure, Dorothy, if you trick her into thinking it's prey" ("August 27, 2006] . Dorothy thus attempts to turn Coney into a complete herbivore, but has consistently failed to do so. Her efforts, however, have annoyed both Elanor and Kell. Despite this, Dorothy shows no signs of discouragement, nor any indication that she will give up; according to Lindesfarne's blog, she has made her New Year's Resolution to turn Coney into a vegetarian.

Recently, her closeness to her cousin Francis has made her more protective of her prey (for example, she wouldn't eat a mouse because he spoke to her nicely, instead of insulting her), but, since she lives in a world of predators and prey, she is in no danger of starving. She has been allowed to stay in her preschool as long as she continues to eat meat, and her protectiveness saved her grandmother Dorothy's life, thus causing her to promise to stop trying to change Coney's diet.

References