Monday, June 06, 2005
Bunnies
Yesterday, the boyfriend and I were curled-up, napping on the couch when there was a knock on the door. It was a girl from our neighborhood, telling us that we had a baby rabbit in our front yard, and it looked like it was dying. I ran out to the sidewalk to take a look. Sure enough there was this tiny baby rabbit squirming around on the sidewalk. Small enough to fit several of them in my hand. Eyes still closed. Ears pinned back. It would take a step or two, then fall over onto it's back, where it would wriggle around for a few seconds, until it could flip itself upright again. Poor thing. It must have come down the ivy-covered hill in front of our house, then fallen off of the retaining wall.
As I said thank you to the little girl, I noticed that there was another one a few feet behind her. Same deal. Laying on it's back, trying to flip over. I ran inside to get a box to put them in, before the local cat could come over and get to them. I came back with the box and discovered a 3rd bunny. A few minutes later, there was a fourth. We filled the box with grass and took it onto our porch in the backyard.
We took a look at rabbit.org and a few other sites. We were a little worried about touching them, thinking they'd be abandoned by their mother, but we didn't feel we had much choice. The alternative was to leave them on the sidewalk or let them squirm their way onto the street. The websites said that rabbits weren't put off by human scents and the mother wouldn't really care. Whew. The sites also said the best thing to do is leave them alone, that the mother would be back later in the evening to feed them. So we decided to find their nest and put them back. Based on info and pics on those websites, I'd say the rabbits were maybe a week old. They had fur, but their eyes weren't opened yet and they had trouble keeping their balance.
We poked around in the ivy for a bit and finally found their hole. Inside the hole we could see at least 2 more bunnies poking out. One-by-one we put them back in the hole. A bit comical, as one would crawl in, another would crawl out and start making it's way down the hill. They eventually all stayed in and appeared to go to sleep.
After finding another one on the sidewalk a few hours later, we decided to put a small chicken-wire fence up at the bottom of the hill. At least that way they'd stop falling off the retaining wall. That appeared to do the trick. No more bunnies on the sidewalk today. We checked on them this morning, and they were up and about, crawling all over the ivy. That's fine, as long as they don't make it to the sidewalk. No idea if their mother came back to them.
(Insert "Bunnies" by Pansy Division here)
As I said thank you to the little girl, I noticed that there was another one a few feet behind her. Same deal. Laying on it's back, trying to flip over. I ran inside to get a box to put them in, before the local cat could come over and get to them. I came back with the box and discovered a 3rd bunny. A few minutes later, there was a fourth. We filled the box with grass and took it onto our porch in the backyard.
We took a look at rabbit.org and a few other sites. We were a little worried about touching them, thinking they'd be abandoned by their mother, but we didn't feel we had much choice. The alternative was to leave them on the sidewalk or let them squirm their way onto the street. The websites said that rabbits weren't put off by human scents and the mother wouldn't really care. Whew. The sites also said the best thing to do is leave them alone, that the mother would be back later in the evening to feed them. So we decided to find their nest and put them back. Based on info and pics on those websites, I'd say the rabbits were maybe a week old. They had fur, but their eyes weren't opened yet and they had trouble keeping their balance.
We poked around in the ivy for a bit and finally found their hole. Inside the hole we could see at least 2 more bunnies poking out. One-by-one we put them back in the hole. A bit comical, as one would crawl in, another would crawl out and start making it's way down the hill. They eventually all stayed in and appeared to go to sleep.
After finding another one on the sidewalk a few hours later, we decided to put a small chicken-wire fence up at the bottom of the hill. At least that way they'd stop falling off the retaining wall. That appeared to do the trick. No more bunnies on the sidewalk today. We checked on them this morning, and they were up and about, crawling all over the ivy. That's fine, as long as they don't make it to the sidewalk. No idea if their mother came back to them.
(Insert "Bunnies" by Pansy Division here)
