Wild baby bunnys

[gypsy2621]

I hate to be a downer here but I am going to say this anyway.
IF anyone finds wild baby bunnys no matter the reasons PLEASE leave them where they are found.

Wild is WILD and the chances for transmutable diseases are way to high a risk.
Not only to your animals but a lot of rabbit diseases can be transfered to humans.
Parasites are another reason to leave them where they were.

I have had many calls to rehab wild baby bunnys , I flatly refuse and suggest they put them back where they find them. The mother will come back to them but if she returns more than once and the babys are not there she will abandon the nest and rebreed.

I run a Rabbitry and in no way would I risk my herd to parasites and disease than can be transfered.
another thought here,
Dogs who dig out a rabbit nest are doing the owner of herd animals a favor, they are saving you countless hundreds of dollars in vetting bills because one animal stepped into a rabbit hole and broke its leg. plus I have to mention how many hundreds of dollars to replace the injured animal?
So the question would be which is worth more the herd animals or the wild bunnys?

 

[lurky]

Our local paper has a wildlife column in the saturday paper. I emailed the guy and suggested that he write about the bunnies to educate people every spring to leave them alone. He has never done it. It really bums me out because it happens so often. If people only knew that the mother stays away on purpose and most likely did not get run over, as is a popular assumption. I love when people share knowledge this way about it.

 

[punkin]

In no way would I encourage anyone to raise a wild rabbit. Although several years ago, my dog brought in a tiny, almost naked bunny with its eyes still closed. She practically laid it at my feet. I'm way too tenderhearted to have left it there to die. I brought it in, put in in a box with a heating pad and sent my husband to the store for a feeding bottle and "mother's milk". Patiently, I feed that little bunny every two hours for several days. Each feeding time I expected to find it dead, but each time I was pleasantly suprised. Eventually, it was greedily drinking from a bottle. As it grew older, I only offered fresh greens it would have found in the wild. When it became old enough, we turned it loose. I did not try to make a pet of it, nor was it ever tame. I only handled it when necessary. I did not have any other animals in the house at that time. It was a very time consuming but gratifying experience.

 

[horsejody]

I have worked wildlife rescue quite a bit. Most people don't realise that most baby bunnies they find in their yard are not in need of human assistance. The mother bunny only visits the nest 2-3 times per day. So, just because you don't see mama, it doesn't mean the babies are abandoned or needing human intervention. Also, if you find a baby bunnie running around your yard, leave it alone. If it can walk/hop and has fur, it doesn't need you and most like doesn't even need its mother. LEAVE IT ALONE!!! The only time a baby rabbit may need rescueing is when our domesticated roaming predators (dogs and cats) injure one. If that is the case, contact a rescue group for assistance.

The same goes for birds. Just because the baby is on the ground, it doesn't mean that it isn't supposed to be there. They are supposed to fall out of the nest even though they still can't fly and look little and helpless. The parents will take care of them on the ground. Only in extraordinary circumstances do they need intervention.

I currently have 2 of those exceptions sitting next to me. We had severe storms the other day in Nebraska. Huge trees were uprooted and tipped over. DH was doing cleanup and discovered 3 baby robins in a nest underneath a huge tree limb that came down. The nest was upside down and the branch was on top of them. One was dead and two were cold and weak. I don't know how they survived, but they did. Of course DH came and got me. I warmed the babies in my hands, and we placed the nest upright on a limb in the same tree their branch fell out of. It was a long shot, but we hoped the parents would discover them. They didn't. Hours later, it was back up the ladder for DH and into my wild bird brooder for the babies. I don't officially work with with a rescue group any more, but I have in the past and have years of experience. We are currently scouring the neighborhood for robin nests with babies the same age. Birds have virtually no sense of smell and can't count. Babies can be put in somebody else's nest and be cared for by the owners of the nest. As long as the new babies look exactly like the rest, they don't seem to care.

 

[chickbea]

Not to hijack the thread (but it is related) - the same goes for fawns!
Baby fawns are NOT abandoned, mom is most likely watching and waiting for you to go away!

 

[Karlachix]

Thank goodness!! When I first saw the title of your thread, my first thought was NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't Touch Them!

Unfortunately, many years ago I "rescued" some baby rabbits. I thought I had a very good reason. It would have been much kinder for all involved if I had let nature take it's course. "I had a bad experience."

IF anyone finds wild baby bunnys no matter the reasons PLEASE leave them where they are found.

I 100% agree with you.​

 

[Year of the Rooster]

ABSOLUTELY!!!! I agree with this too! My neighbors always have some every year and they "ALWAYS" think they're abandoned. I told them that even if they touch them and put them back in the nest, the mother would sitll come back. But NOOOOOOO!!!! The WANTED them so they we're going to KEEP them. Selfish people, not to mention their daughters loved them and their daughters are spoiled rotten and don't even know how to take care of them. Their youngest was holding one one time and she dropped it and broke BOTH its back legs! Can't they just leave them be!!!

Sorry for the vent. But this is just of thos things that I get upset over sometimes.

 

[geoaware]

We watched the whole process of mother bunny building the nest through to the babies being 'let out' of the nest. It was a wonderful experience to watch nature take its course.

When we first aw the nest we did some research and realized to keep away and lets things be is the best....and so it was!

However, one baby was 'left in the nest'...so we are keeping an eye on it (the nest in in the floor of a horse stall in a barn we are building)

 

[Harley's girl]

My tom cat got a baby bunny the other day.

I know that it has nothing to do with this thread. But I just wanted to tell you that. I have never got why people would take a baby from its mama. God knew what he was doing when he created these animals. They have made it this long without us taking them and trying to "help". Oh well anyways, tom cats sure don't care if the mama is around or not, they are just looking for some food.

 

[punkin]

Quote:
I 100% agree with you.

What if your dog brought it in your house?