So today Captain Midnight was out being Manly Man Who Does Manly Lawn Care, and as he was weed-whacking the edges of the yard, he looked down into a window well and saw two trapped baby wild rabbits. So he fished them out and brought them into the house.
They were cute and teeny and probably scared out of their wits, poor things.
We took a few pictures, and then CM decided (quite rightly) to minimize contact by putting them into a box for a short while. Not only is too much handling likely to kill a wild rabbit, but they also often carry fleas and the risk of diseases, which could likewise be dangerous for us.
The white blaze on the forehead indicates that this baby rabbit is still nursing and should not be away from its mother for long.
After a few minutes of "yikes predators!", these two started moving around the box and sniffing lettuce and bits of jicama.
Miss V took it upon herself to be their protector. She kept watch over the box, talking to the rabbits and singing little songs to them. I have no idea whether this helped calm them.
After a while, CM and Miss V let them go in the vacant lot next door (where most of the rabbits in our neighborhood seem to live). They were a little shellshocked from their experience with scary humans, but I think they will soon recover and hop away once we give them some distance. We'll go out again in an hour and check on them.ETA: Captain Midnight used his binoculars to spy on them from a distance. They seem to have disappeared into the brush.
Awwwww! How adowable!
ReplyDeleteYep, they were mighty cute!
ReplyDeleteAw such sweeties. For future reference...just in case, as it were...never give iceberg lettuce to a rabbit... it gives them the diarrhea of death. A little bit probably brought them no harm, all the better if their mother found them quickly. City rabbits usually have no trouble of accepting back offspring that have human smell...so all should end well.
ReplyDeleteThat's very good to know. I've spied one of them since, hopping around the yard.
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