All Hail, King Rupert

Logan Tullock never planned to become the mastermind behind UM’s latest dorm life celebrity, but that’s exactly what happened when a spontaneous internet search led him to Rupert, a 9-month-old rabbit. Rupert isn’t registered as a service animal or a pet, yet the bunny, which Tullock bought in January, has become the unofficial “communal service rabbit” for Tullock, his friends and his roommates.

Tullock doesn’t look the part of a dotting, fervent bunny owner his close friends and roommates have come to know him as. Dressed in Wrangler jeans, a weathered baseball cap and a camo gator around his neck, he can come across as intimidating. The 18-year-old first-year student from Illinois hopes to join the army in the future and is passionate about training in UM’s ROTC program.

After his adoption, Rupert has come to be known around the Knowles Hall dormitory where he resides - and the greater University of Montana community of undergraduates - quite literally as a king. Or so Rupert’s Instagram account, rupert_of_um, says. The account was started earlier this April after Tullock began bringing Rupert out of the shadows of anonymity.

Allison Peschek, one of Rupert’s earliest fans, met Tullock before he adopted the rabbit. When she first met him, he was a blunt man of few words. “You wouldn’t be able to tell he has a bunny,” Peschek said.

Tullock uses this hard, blunt exterior to his advantage. His intimidating, aspiring plane-jumper persona helps him keep the secret from nosey resident assistants that in the frayed black backpack slung around his shoulders, he carries his beloved baby bunny safely nestled inside. He doesn’t look like someone who could be harboring an unregistered baby bunny, spending his free time training that baby bunny to use a litterbox.

When Tullock isn’t adventuring around Montana with Rupert in tow, the celebrity rabbit spends his days hopping around the Oval or burrowed against Tullock’s homework and textbooks inside his backpack. The bunny cave, Tullock calls it. Sometimes, Tullock takes Rupert to visit Rise and Rooted or the University Center on his harness and leash. These are the moments when Rupert's celebrity status is most apparent.

As Tullock began introducing Rupert to the world beyond the dorm halls, the bunny began to attract people, sometimes in crowds. Mostly students who are surprised to see a domesticated rodent being paraded around campus. As surprised as Rupert’s new admirers were, Tullock was equally surprised at all the attention he was getting.

“It’s always a good day when Rupert just shows up out of nowhere,” Peschek said.

Despite Tullock’s serious, no-nonsense demeanor, once he takes Rupert out of his backpack he melts like putty in Rupert’s paws. Wherever Rupert wants to hop, Tullock obliges. He puts his art and photography hobbies to good use, sketching and photographing Rupert when he has the time.

Rupert isn't the first animal to be placed under Tullock’s care. Tullock grew up on a small hobby farm where his family cared for lambs and cows. In high school, he cared for the occasional injured rabbit while working at a birds of prey sanctuary. After a lonely first semester at UM, far from the Midwestern farm life Tullock was accustomed to, he found Rupert during an impulsive Facebook Marketplace search.

McKay Cheney, Tullock’s roommate, said that they had been talking about getting a smaller animal, like a dog, during the 2020 fall semester, but it didn’t happen until spring. “One day he said, ’Yo, I’m getting a bunny if that’s okay,’” Cheney said. “Then, the second week of school he just shows up with a bunny.”

Rupert’s university royal status has turned Tullock into something of a social butterfly. It wasn’t Tullock’s intent to use Rupert as an icebreaker to make friends. But that’s what happened. After Tullock bought Rupert, strangers were suddenly flocking to him in hopes of getting a chance to pet Rupert’s adorably floppy ears and fluffy gray fur. Where Rupert made friends, so did Tullock. As did Tullock’s friends, who started taking Rupert out on their own, hoping to get a piece of the action.

In Tullock’s circle, bunnies have become the new chick magnet. Sometimes, according to Cheney, Tullock doesn’t even know where Rupert is. His friends take Rupert out constantly. On one such occasion, another UM student was inspired and spontaneously bought a rabbit herself.

Rupert may be UM’s latest celebrity, but Tullock doesn’t seem to care about the fame and status of owning a big-name bunny. He doesn’t even run Rupert’s Instagram page himself. The up-and-coming military man doesn’t bother himself with using Rupert to become the most popular man on campus. Tullock is content making sure Rupert has a comfortable, happy, somewhat secret dorm life.

The rodent king had been Knowles Hall’s best kept secret until Tullock decided to “be bold,” he said, and share Rupert with the world, no matter the risk of getting caught. There hasn’t been any trouble so far, but if a resident assistant were to start poking around, Tullock isn’t concerned. He somehow manages to be the intimidating Army guy and the laid back, loving type all at once.

“Everyone knows Rupert,” Tullock said. And to know Rupert is to love Rupert. “I'm not too worried.”