doorkeeper
Mama Doe
Does anyone know what the law is regarding keeping of wild rabbits?
Earlier in the year a cat left a baby rabbit in front of the rescue, which we managed to catch (I'm not sure how the cat knew where to leave it:?) The baby was scratched in several places but didn't appear too stressed by handling and was eating. Luckily we had a litter of similiar age into which I was able to put the wild baby. He could only have been 2 to 3 weeks old at the time, not old enough to release as he could not have survived without his mother who would not have taken him back anyway smelling of cat and human.
He thrived in the litter, snuggling in and feeding until he started to feel his hormones when he became rather agressive. My attempts to bond him with an interim babysitter failed. Yesterday I took him in to be neutered and one of the vet nurses said that it is illegal to keep him. I know of quite a few wild rabbits kept by people and have not been able to find anything on the net to verify what the nurse said. Of course it would be abhorant to keep a wild rabbit in a cage, but that is not my intention. I would actually like to release him but knowing how territorial rabbits are I doubt that he would fit into a wild group. Young males must always have a hard time of it and one smelling of humans and partially tame would be at a severe disadvantage to my mind. I don't think releasing him would be fair either.
So does anyone know what the law actually says about this? He is not the only baby wild rabbit we have had brought in this year, nor is he likely to be the last to survive in our care. I need to know what we ought to do. Sadly most that we get called about die before they even get here and the one Caroline brought in died the night after. But Pippin is a nice healthy young buck now. I would like to bond him into one of our groups and keep him in a large enclosure. But would that be illegal?
Earlier in the year a cat left a baby rabbit in front of the rescue, which we managed to catch (I'm not sure how the cat knew where to leave it:?) The baby was scratched in several places but didn't appear too stressed by handling and was eating. Luckily we had a litter of similiar age into which I was able to put the wild baby. He could only have been 2 to 3 weeks old at the time, not old enough to release as he could not have survived without his mother who would not have taken him back anyway smelling of cat and human.
He thrived in the litter, snuggling in and feeding until he started to feel his hormones when he became rather agressive. My attempts to bond him with an interim babysitter failed. Yesterday I took him in to be neutered and one of the vet nurses said that it is illegal to keep him. I know of quite a few wild rabbits kept by people and have not been able to find anything on the net to verify what the nurse said. Of course it would be abhorant to keep a wild rabbit in a cage, but that is not my intention. I would actually like to release him but knowing how territorial rabbits are I doubt that he would fit into a wild group. Young males must always have a hard time of it and one smelling of humans and partially tame would be at a severe disadvantage to my mind. I don't think releasing him would be fair either.
So does anyone know what the law actually says about this? He is not the only baby wild rabbit we have had brought in this year, nor is he likely to be the last to survive in our care. I need to know what we ought to do. Sadly most that we get called about die before they even get here and the one Caroline brought in died the night after. But Pippin is a nice healthy young buck now. I would like to bond him into one of our groups and keep him in a large enclosure. But would that be illegal?