Ginger found baby rabbits and I screwed up

She's got a strong prey drive and I always thought she'd catch an adult since there's one that hides in a hydrangea in our backyard. Every night.

Don't rabbits have a protective instinct that they wouldn't keep putting themselves in danger? Apparently not because not only did it keep coming back, it built a nest in my bush.

Saturday morning, I'm inside and I hear DH outside frantically yelling "NOOOOOOOO!" and I run out to see Ginger pawing something on the ground. I grab her and wrestle her inside and come back to find a baby bunny on the ground.

It was tiny, it fit into my palm as I picked it up but it was warm and didn't appear hurt. Miraculously, it had no punctures or scratches on it. DH said Ginger "soft mouthed" the bunny and then put it down to sniff and investigate it but when she saw DH coming, she tried to pick it up and run away with it - that's when he yelled. He said he saw at least two other babies in the nest, so I relocated the one bunny to a safer spot under a bush right outside my fence, no more than 20 feet away.

But when I came back, I couldn't find the others. I pulled weeds and grass away, moved around the bush, no luck. Then I was kicking myself for taking the one bunny away from the others!! I thought maybe the mother would still find it so I built a barricade around the bush, with lattice so the rabbits could get in and out but Ginger couldn't.

I tried using Ginger on a leash to sniff out the other baby and although we had trained Ginger to "search", she couldn't find it.

I feel SO guilty for not thinking to at least do a google search to figure out what to do before I moved it. We're keeping the babies safe and I know they're in there because I heard them mewing yesterday, which makes me feel a little bit better. But I keep looking for the other baby, listening and hoping.

Re: Ginger found baby rabbits and I screwed up

Posted by greenfreak

I feel SO guilty for not thinking to at least do a google search to figure out what to do before I moved it. We're keeping the babies safe and I know they're in there because I heard them mewing yesterday, which makes me feel a little bit better. But I keep looking for the other baby, listening and hoping.

Message edited 7/3/2011 6:27:47 PM.

Re: Ginger found baby rabbits and I screwed up

Thanks Goobster. I searched myself and tried to get Ginger to find it again around sunrise and sunset, when they're active but no luck.

I figured the best I can do now is protect the ones that are left and spread the word, so I just wrote a note on my Facebook gardening page too, with info and a link to a FAQ.

I feel like they're "our" babies now and I hope we get to see them when they emerge!

Re: Ginger found baby rabbits and I screwed up

The babies do not have the instinct to run like adults. Especially when that small.

I almost went over one with my lawn mower a few years ago. Imagine my horror with just the thought of it. I tried to "scare" the baby away to move away from my front lawn. He/She would not move but kept lowering himself/herself to the ground in the grass. Like I can still see you baby rabbit.

Finally he/she went on the other side of the street. He/She was back a few days later.