raising wild bunnies

[farm n louisana]

We have wild rabbits that live by our gardens n in our goat pen we don't mess with them we just watch them I'm surprised how good the goats n the rabbits get alone they can b right next to each other

 

[Darrell Dunn]

I am going to have to disagree with some responses here. I have rescued 3 cotton tails whose mother abandoned them after the net was mowed over. Their eyes were not open yet. We bottle fed them, interacted with them, and even have them in house. They are predominately housebroke, they run and play in the house and even play with us. They are a month and a half old. They have toys that they play with, and we can even distinguish between them by their behavior.

 

[Bunnylady]

I am going to have to disagree with some responses here. I have rescued 3 cotton tails whose mother abandoned them after the net was mowed over. Their eyes were not open yet. We bottle fed them, interacted with them, and even have them in house. They are predominately housebroke, they run and play in the house and even play with us. They are a month and a half old. They have toys that they play with, and we can even distinguish between them by their behavior.

Rather than keep repeating myself:

it is illegal to keep a wild rabbit

And finally, the behavior of a young animal can be very different from the behavior of an adult. A lot of people with domestic rabbits have seen a radical change in the rabbits' personalities when puberty hits their pet bunnies. Some rabbits become nothing short of vicious, and these are animals that have been domesticated for thousands of years. Just because your little wildling is sweet now is no guarantee that he will like or even tolerate your attention in a few months' time.

The behavior of a 6-week-old does not indicate the behavior of an adult. Within a few weeks, your house guests will start attacking each other, as their instinctive desire to establish their own territories kicks in. They might even start attacking you. People are often dismayed when this sort of behavior shows up in their domestic rabbits; though I see it all the time, I was surprised both by the ferocity and early age at which it appears in the wild ones.

 

[Darrell Dunn]

The law, in Arkansas:
Arkansas Exotic Pet Laws
Large carnivores (lions, tigers, and bears) are illegal to own. There is also a limit of six animals per owner for bobcats, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, quail, opossum, coyote, deer, red fox, and gray fox. Ownership of an animal obtained in another state must show verification it was legally acquired.

 

[Bunnylady]

The law, in Arkansas:
Arkansas Exotic Pet Laws
Large carnivores (lions, tigers, and bears) are illegal to own. There is also a limit of six animals per owner for bobcats, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, quail, opossum, coyote, deer, red fox, and gray fox. Ownership of an animal obtained in another state must show verification it was legally acquired.

Evidently, F&W in Arkansas have better things to do than harass every citizen who can't resist the urge to help orphaned wildlife, but you can keep them only under very specific conditions. That's 6 animals, total, so if you found a litter of baby squirrels that got blown out of their nest and tried to raise them, if there were more than 3 squirrels in addition to your 3 rabbits you'd be over the limit. You must meet certain criteria of confinement, and you must keep males and females separate, and only keep males together if they have been neutered - that's Arkansas law. You aren't allowed to breed or sell them; apparently, the only legal way for them to change hands is for you to hand them over to a licensed wildlife rehabber. To be released, they have to have been kept away from domestic stock, to avoid the risk of spreading disease among the wild population.