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Releasing hand reared wildies.

H

halfpenny

Wise Old Thumper
I have been wondering about Sparrow ( our wildie baby) and although I suspect he may be too tame to release if he survives, what do people generally think is best.
From the reading I have done it seems that hand reared babies tend to suffer from delicate tummies all their lives- if so, is it then fair to release an animal.
I have also wondered if the fact they have not been given proper mother's milk and therefore not a balanced diet as a baby, would it mean they are more prone to dental issues due to calcium imbalance.

What do people think?
 
I don't think they should ever be released. Wild rabbits live a matter of months, not years. And that's the healthy ones.
 
I believe I heard somewhere that those that are released spend their lives on the outskirts of warrens as opposed to being fully accepted.

Maybe like a soft release into a large, safe space, maybe with other domestics might work if you can't find others like him?

Donna's relatives place with her half wildies :D
 
Whenever i have released wildie babies, it has been a group of them together. I got them onto a wild-food-only diet as soon as possible after the bottle, and made sure they were used to it. I then soft-released them in a safe area. They were fully vaccinated before release as I wanted to protect them as much as I could.
I am not sure this would work for a single wild bunny.
 
Stator said:
I don't think they should ever be released. Wild rabbits live a matter of months, not years. And that's the healthy ones.
Click to expand...

I think if you follow that through though, we should round up all the wild ones to keep them safe.


I'd suggest seeing if there is a wildlife rescue that has a group they plan to release it can join. Often they'd do a soft release so they'd live in a run in a semi wild area where they can get used to the sounds/smells etc. and eat grass and then be released from there.
 
I'm not really worried about releasing him, had 2 wildies previously so know what to expect and there is one wildlife rescue here but they had babies about 2 months ago so they will be long gone before Sparrow is ready.

I can see both sides, certainly if a 'clutch' of babies ais handed in every year you can't keep them all because they are so much harder to rehome, but at the same time I worry we release animals assumed to be fit but an un-natural start must affect general health down the line- i am talking about all wild animals here.
 
If it were me, I don't think i would be happy to release a single bun. I know I'd feel worried the whole time but wouldn't worry as much if a whole group were being released. Thats just me though :)
 
We will not be releasing Pippin - I simply don't think he would survive in the wild - and he is very very bonded to my OH.

I would no more release Pippin than I would release one of our accident (domestic) 'babies'.

I understand that he will need a lot of space etc but he will get that.

However he does not have any tummy issues at all!!
 
Rag was a wildie found as a babe of about 5 weeks old. She remained domesticated as a very loving pet.
With the right care wildies can be kept as domestics, after all aren't all our pet rabbits decended form those wild rabbits originally kept by monestaries? (I've been reading rabbit books again!)

If an animal has been hand reared and is bonded to a human its potentially deadly to try to release them. They can end up coming up to humans looking for attention or not understand the "rules" of the wild as it were.

If only Sparrow were a girl or there was another wildie looking for a home... Ben needs a companion and I miss Rag so much. Maybe one day I'll get another wildie to care for.
 
I think it depends on what kind of set up you could give him?

If you were to keep him in a hutch, I think he'd be better off in the wild, if you could have him in some large enclosure with tunnels and lots of space, I think he'd be best staying with you.
 
I think your farm would be ideal for doing a soft-release, but on the other hand, I'm not sure how a single baby rabbit (with no experience of meeting other rabbits) would cope. At least a whole litter of wildies would be able to create a new colony.

I haven't found that any of my hand-reared babies (5 in total) have had any digestive issues at all...in fact they are amongst my most robust rabbits. If you're going to release him, you'll need to start feeding grass earlier than you'd like in a ideal world....which obviously carries some element of risk, especially around the 4-8 week mark.
 
Candiflare said:
keep him ;););););)
Click to expand...

sorta agree here... give very big and SECURE enclosure, either on slabs/concrete etc or with a layer of mesh on the base. Rag was very happy having her 6ft hutch and a daily run around our garden for a few hours or coming into the house.
Smudge my Tan was more destructive than she was!
 
Our first ever rabbit was a wildie- Benji.
I agree that it might have been different if there were a group of babies to release, at least they would have each other and could be kept in an enclosure until fully adapted. With one it would be very hard to intergrate into a group.
I am worried about the weaning period, but if he survives its good to know he isn't definately going to have gut issues.
 
Tamsin said:
I think if you follow that through though, we should round up all the wild ones to keep them safe.
Click to expand...
If it were possible I would. But you have a higher duty of care to any animals you do care for, even if they are/were wild.
 
I don't think i would release a single hand reared bun into the wild.

I am sure that you will be able to give Sparrow a great enclosure and life at the farm :)
 
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