| Four Little Bunnies |
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| Four little bunnies tucked safe in their nest Weren't hurt and weren't scared, Weren't in a big mess. But then came the dog, then the hand, then the box, And that's when those bunnies began to feel lost. They wanted their mother, her safe warm good milk. They wanted each other, but even that faded out. One by one they started to die, And even they weren't sure as to why. All they knew was this place, this horrible place And that box, and that horrible face. There story's enough to make some people cry, And the bunnies know enough, To know that they didn't need to die. |
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| The sad truth is this sort of thing happens every day. People who don't really know what they're doing will take wild baby rabbit from the nest and "save" them. |
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| What they don't realize is they're doing the little bunnies more harm than good. Baby bunnies found in the nest rarely need your help. True, you may not see the mother around, but in truth she's only with her babies a few minutes during the day (or night, as the case usually is) and leaves them alone the rest of the day. This serves a purpose, it keeps predators from being attracted to the nest. Also, don't think just because you've 'disturbed' a nest, the mother won't want her babies, and it's therefore your duty to help them. This is not true, in fact, you can put the babies anywhere within about forty feet of the original nest, and the mother will find them and move them to a safer spot. But do it soon, because if she comes back once, and her babies are gone, she's not going to come back anymore. If you do have any substantial reason to believe their mother has abadoned them (like you find her dead body in the nest), then do not, I repeat DO NOT attempt to care for the little ones yourself. Wild rabbits are not tame rabbits, they do not respond the same way to human care, and you could easily kill them. They only way they have the slightest chance is to get them to a wildlife rehabilitator immediatly. Wild rabbits will almost certianly not respond posatively to being taken in. In fact, under stress, their intestines will start to shut down, causing a painful, prolonged death for the rabbit. This is nature's defense strategy. A form of population control. If the enviroment is to stressful to survive...don't. Some people say, well I've helped baby squirrels or baby racoons, or even domesticated baby rabbits, but trust me, it's not the same. I myself have hand-raised domestic rabbits, and when a litter of wild ones were thrust into my hands, I thought I could handle it. I wasn't to anxious to trouble with the rehabilitator. So I got some kitten milk formula, used the ceretropses from my other adult rabbit to mix with it, and thought I'd feed them okay. One by one they started to die. It was horrible, they were ice-cold, slowly going paralyzed, it was a sad sight. I thought it was something I did wrong. I killed those poor little rabbits because I fed them wrong, they were to cold, they were to hot, I handled them to much. Well, in a way I was right, this might have been prevented taking them to someone who knew what they were doing. But the truth is, just the stress of being away from their "home" killed them. Please, please, if you find wild baby bunnies, just leave them where they are. Sometimes it's hard to tell if their mom's been around lately, but here's a little trick. Pick one of them up (they can be touched, but keep it to a minimum), and between your thumb and finger pull up the neckhide, that is, the skin on back of the neck. (you've seen mother cats carrying their kittens this way), and hold it like that for a few seconds, then let go. The skin should sift back into place. But if not, if the skin stays up and in the folds, then you've got a dehydrated bunny. A dehydrated bunny indicate that he/she hasn't been taken care of in a while. Don't just give them water, it's not to good for their system. In this case, keep a watch for their mom for about a day, if there's no sign of her, consider the reasons she may not be around. The babies might have some disease, she may have abadoned them for health reasons, or she might be dead, or hurt, or even the babies might have been moved by someone else and now their mom can't find them. In this situation, if you truly feel these babies are not diseased (then just leave them, there's nothing you can do), you should take them to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator. You also may have to take into consideration their age. Wild rabbits are out of the nest and more or less able to be self sufficient at three or four weeks, and they are tiny! People keep tiny rabbits thinking they're way to young to survive to later realize they had a half-grown bunny! Please, don't make mistakes that can easily be avoided. You may think it's noble to try to save a bunch of wild orphaned rabbits, but the nobler thing to do, is to take them to someone who might have a serious chance at saving their lives. |
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| For more information on helping orphaned babies, or just general rabbit information, visit The House Rabbit Society at rabbit.org |
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| General Rabbit Care and Health Information |
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