Rescue efforts are keeping family of bunnies alive
Published: September 7, 2006
Most people find rabbits at the pet store.
Laura Russell, on the other hand, recently picked up four bunnies near one of Fremont’s busiest streets.
On Aug. 25, Russell was driving down Military Avenue when a companion in her vehicle said, “What’s that?”
Backing up for a closer look, Russell discovered a tiny wild rabbit in the street. It was alive, but unable to climb the curb to safety.
Nearby, an adult rabbit lay dead in the street.
Russell captured the baby bunny and found three more nested in the grass between the sidewalk and the curb. She picked up those, too.
“I wasn’t going to leave them there,” she said. “They were too little.”
Reading up later on the survival rate of wild rabbits taken in by humans, Russell said she knew there was only about 1 percent chance of them living.
“But I’m an animal lover,” she said.
So, using puppy formula purchased at an area pet shop, she began bottle-feeding the foursome every two to three hours.
As of Tuesday, the rabbits were still alive, hopping about in a paper-lined aquarium, having outgrown their first home, a five-gallon bucket.
Cradling a bunny in one hand and a tiny bottle in the other, Russell said, “Another two weeks and I’ll let them go.”
Dan Roberts of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said he understands why people rescue and attempt to raise seemingly abandoned or injured wild animals.
“It’s a natural instinct for people to try and help,” he said.
But the practice is illegal.
Only wildlife rescue teams working under state and federal permits are eligible to care for such animals, Roberts said.
“We try to discourage home-raising of wildlife babies, in general,” he said. “In most cases, people don’t know if the parents have died.”
Contrary to popular belief, animal babies handled by humans will not be abandoned by their parents, he said.
In the case of the orphaned bunnies found on Military Avenue, Roberts said moving them away from the street to a less-trafficked spot would still have been the best solution.
Upon learning her good intentions were illegal, Russell called the Wildlife Rescue Team of Nebraska Inc. and signed up to become a member.
Jan Carlson, WRT spokesperson, said members are trained in the care of wounded or abandoned animals which are later returned to the wild, if at all possible.
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