stray rabbit!

[brierose3]

If it has been wild this long, it has developed the ability to survive. If you're comfortable picking it up, you might check if it is a buck or a doe. If it's a doe, you might want to let it go, as they hide their litters (only need to feed twice a day for about 5 minutes). You might be trying to adopt a mom who has kits. If you keep mom away from the kits, they will all die. Its been wild for 7 months now, right? I think it is kind for you to be concerned, but keep in mind an old rabbit in the wild is only about 3-4 years old. Normal lifespan. Hope you don't mind my 2 cents here....I raised rabbits for some time and honestly, they don't do well on farms with chickens: they get coccidia and are unthrifty. That's my experience. Good luck!

thank you! so do you think it is fine to let him/her go in the morning or now even??

 

[oceanswimmer]

Let her go now. Rabbits feed and are most active at night. If you know you have predators, release near cover (thick bushes) so Rabbit has a place to rest, feed, re-orient, and get home!
On another note, wild rabbits just never make good pets. If you want to raise some rabbits in the future, find a Rabbit breeder thread in OZ, hopefully not far from you. That way you can learn and be successful. Best regards

 

[Bunnylady]

It has been a while though I have caught one of the rabbit tonight. We will wait till tomorrow to check it out and everything but we were wondering if it is cruel to keep it after it has been wild for this long. Thanks

It is not cruel to keep it. If this were a stray dog you had caught would you think, "he has learned to find food on his own, shouldn't I release him so he can go back to raiding dustbins?" This is a domestic animal that some irresponsible person has left to fend for itself. To paraphrase a popular saying around here, "a domestic animal on its owner's property is a pet; a domestic animal on someone else's property is a nuisance." Nobody should know more about rabbits being potential nuisances than an Australian! Just because one neighbor doesn't consider these stray rabbits a problem doesn't mean everyone feels the same way.

One of the horse owners at our barn found her (dead) cat in a neighbor's yard yesterday. Actually, the neighbor found it and called the owner; the owner had been putting up flyers in the neighborhood because the cat had been missing for a couple of days. The cat had been shot, so clearly, somebody didn't welcome the cat in their yard. If the person who did it can be found, the person who shot the cat would be facing charges of cruelty to animals, but ya gotta catch 'em first.

The OP may be sparing this rabbit from a similar fate. IMO, "freedom" is overrated when the animal in question is a domestic animal, particularly a small herbivore that instinctively sees death in everything that moves. At the very least, taking this rabbit in removes one nuisance from the community, and prevents it from being available to possibly breed more of its kind.

 

[sourland]

It is not cruel to keep it. If this were a stray dog you had caught would you think, "he has learned to find food on his own, shouldn't I release him so he can go back to raiding dustbins?" This is a domestic animal that some irresponsible person has left to fend for itself. To paraphrase a popular saying around here, "a domestic animal on its owner's property is a pet; a domestic animal on someone else's property is a nuisance." IMO, "freedom" is overrated when the animal in question is a domestic animal, particularly a small herbivore that instinctively sees death in everything that moves. At the very least, taking this rabbit in removes one nuisance from the community, and prevents it from being available to possibly breed more of its kind.

Well said ,

lady. Agreed on all points!