Baby Bunny From The Airport
This rabbit came in on the afternoon of June 30 from Hyde Field. There is a house on the airport property, and the owner's dog brought this fellow to his master who also happens to be an airport employee. She alerted us by phone immediately, and Patrice was able to swing by and pick him up on the way home. Time was on our side, as it was only about a half hour from the initial incident to the point when Patrice got a look at him. Thus, he didn't have time to get dehydrated, and the dog's owner did a good job of making sure he didn't get cold. He was stressed to be sure, but that was about it and it could have been a lot worse.
The injuries found on initial examination included four puncture wounds, one of which penetrated the abdominal cavity. He also appeared not to have the use of one hind leg.
To be truthful, we were pretty surprised to find that he was still alive the next morning.
When Patrice picked him up his eyes were closed, but this morning they opened. Patrice figures that was a premature occurrence; perhaps he forced them open due to his circumstances.
This picture was taken on the evening of July 1, just a hair over a day after the incident. He's not out the woods by any means, but he's doing much better. He's being tube-fed, and he's decidedly much improved. He's still a little jumpy, but that's typical of baby bunnies of this ilk-in fact, if they don't act stressed it's pretty certain that you've got a problem.
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This was taken the evening of July 4, after we got back from fireworks and after feeding. While he's a little tough to see, he's doing MUCH better. So much better, in fact, that he almost escaped the next evening. Needless to say, he's now got full use of all four legs and he's getting pretty brave in exercising them. While he's still getting formula, he's also eating greens and so forth and is essentially just about weaned. |
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Update, July 14: He's feeling really good now, and is completely weaned. He's just about ready to move outside, which is the last major step pending release. He's still pretty small, about 5" long, but the changes are impressive. He's now acting like a rabbit; not appreciative of his keepers or his quarters. He shows absolutely no signs of his earlier injuries. And that's the way it's supposed to be; one of the biggest problems in wildlife rehabilitation is young who have been raised thinking that their human keepers are their parents. Thus, they go out in the wild with little or no fear of humans or even sometimes house pets like dogs and cats with disastrous results.
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Update, July 22: He's outside and spending the days and nights in a protected area to get used to the outdoors. Right off the bat, he was very quickly happily munching away on grass and other things. He's also hiding from us when we come around to check on him, which is a requirement for release.
Update, July 24: Normal release, and all's well with the world.
