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Can anybody help this gentleman with wild bunny advice as to what to do next?

SOAD

Wise Old Thumper
I've had this pm and I am not a wildie girl, I've said that I'm putting it to you guys to help with :wave:


Posted on behalf of brs98

Hello SOAD,
Perhaps you can help.
Last fall we were given a wild bunny that had had its eyes pecked out by magpies. We take in all sorts, so we gave it Baytril and after 3 months its eyes started to function, and it fully recovered. She also survived a disease that caused lumps to appear all over and that we treated with help from a vet.
We have tried to keep contact to a minimum since then, she has a 2 storey wicker basket she calls home in the conservatory and the run of our fully enclosed back garden.
We would like to return her to the wild if she is not too imprinted. Vale Wildlife says they will evaluate her for release, which is great, and if they think she is too imprinted they will euthanise her, and will not return her to us. Definitely not good. British Wildlife rescue says they will take her up to a warren and release her as soon as we bring her in, again, not good, but better than Vale, but we could do that in the Lickey Hills. Both wildlife places say that, from our description, they believe she could go back to the wild. Cottontails rescue and a couple of others rescues disagree.
The main thing is that she has as much freedom as possible and company. We hate for any animal to be alone.
Do you have any suggestions besides trying to bond her with a domestic? We don't think that would work as our rabbit has a wild rabbit bio clock, coming out in the evening and morning, and a bit at night, sleeping all day.
Thanks in advance
 
Do you have any suggestions besides trying to bond her with a domestic? We don't think that would work as our rabbit has a wild rabbit bio clock, coming out in the evening and morning, and a bit at night, sleeping all day.
Thanks in advance

I know nothing about the rest of it, but our buns are very much on those timings. Ori in particular sleeps all day (won't leave the hutch for treats even, though Scarlet does) and gets up at teatime and is still up at midnight (Scarlet goes to bed). He's always up when I get up (even if it's 5 am) though Scarlet isn't, so I don't think the bodyclock issue is insurmountable. They are very closely bonded.

If she can't be released, is there any possibility of a more sympathetic wildlife rescue giving you a wildie they can't release for whetever reason? Not sure how they would view that ethically.
 
I'm not a expert but I don't think she would survive in the wild. The others would definitely attack her . I would think she would bond with a domestic rabbit because that is all she has kown really.
 
Might be worth him contacting Bellatrix18. She has done wonders with her little wildie Logan.
 
My experience with wildies is that they can be quite aggressive, so introducing this little one to other rabbits or back to the wild needs to be done really carefully.

IMO the ONLY way a return to the wild should be attempted is by 'soft release' methods...i.e. find someone with a garden that backs onto fields where wildies are living, set him up there in a hutch and run, and gradually allow the bun to make the move into the wild at his own pace, whilst giving him the option to return back to his hutch and 'safe' space.

My gut instinct says that the best option would be to keep him in captivity, but with the freedom of an enclosed garden or other large enclosure.
 
Our experience with widies has shown them to be a completely different creature to the domesticated rabbit.

The ones we still have live in a big outdoor enclosures, are virtually impossible to handle, and it has probably taken them 2 years to stop bolting everytime anyone walks anywhere near them. We wouldn't like to attempt to put another into the group as the dynamic is clearly set and they can be very aggressive with each other if the balance is tipped.

I doubt the one the gentleman has would survive in the wild, but quite often the alternative of trying to confine/domesticate/tame is crueller.

Its a tough call, and one I wouldn't like to make.

I've spoken to Vale Wildlife on many occassions regarding wildies, and I think they're a great organisation but sometimes it's hard to hear the advice if its not what we'd like to hear.

Was St Tiggywinkles incl in his contacts, as they work with wild bunnies too don't they?
 
I know nothing about the rest of it, but our buns are very much on those timings. Ori in particular sleeps all day (won't leave the hutch for treats even, though Scarlet does) and gets up at teatime and is still up at midnight (Scarlet goes to bed). He's always up when I get up (even if it's 5 am) though Scarlet isn't, so I don't think the bodyclock issue is insurmountable. They are very closely bonded.

If she can't be released, is there any possibility of a more sympathetic wildlife rescue giving you a wildie they can't release for whetever reason? Not sure how they would view that ethically.

If there is, we don't know of one. British Wildlife rescue releases all theirs, Vale releases or euthanises.
 
My experience with wildies is that they can be quite aggressive, so introducing this little one to other rabbits or back to the wild needs to be done really carefully.

IMO the ONLY way a return to the wild should be attempted is by 'soft release' methods...i.e. find someone with a garden that backs onto fields where wildies are living, set him up there in a hutch and run, and gradually allow the bun to make the move into the wild at his own pace, whilst giving him the option to return back to his hutch and 'safe' space.

My gut instinct says that the best option would be to keep him in captivity, but with the freedom of an enclosed garden or other large enclosure.

I agree completely, but we don't have those circumstances, and we don't know of anyone that does. Yet:D
 
Our experience with widies has shown them to be a completely different creature to the domesticated rabbit.

The ones we still have live in a big outdoor enclosures, are virtually impossible to handle, and it has probably taken them 2 years to stop bolting everytime anyone walks anywhere near them. We wouldn't like to attempt to put another into the group as the dynamic is clearly set and they can be very aggressive with each other if the balance is tipped.

I doubt the one the gentleman has would survive in the wild, but quite often the alternative of trying to confine/domesticate/tame is crueller.

Its a tough call, and one I wouldn't like to make.

I've spoken to Vale Wildlife on many occassions regarding wildies, and I think they're a great organisation but sometimes it's hard to hear the advice if its not what we'd like to hear.

Was St Tiggywinkles incl in his contacts, as they work with wild bunnies too don't they?

Interesting to know how yours reacts to others, we had a hurt wild one in on Monday, hit by a car, our long term one didn't bother with it, gave it a sniff and that was all, don't know what the long term would have been as it died yesterday. Our wildie seemed only slightly curious, definitely not aggressive. In that situation.
 
I know nothing about the rest of it, but our buns are very much on those timings. Ori in particular sleeps all day (won't leave the hutch for treats even, though Scarlet does) and gets up at teatime and is still up at midnight (Scarlet goes to bed). He's always up when I get up (even if it's 5 am) though Scarlet isn't, so I don't think the bodyclock issue is insurmountable. They are very closely bonded.

If she can't be released, is there any possibility of a more sympathetic wildlife rescue giving you a wildie they can't release for whetever reason? Not sure how they would view that ethically.

I should have mentioned we are in Birmingham.
 
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I have three wildies -

one raised by hand and very human friendly; one brought in to a rescue at about 6 weeks and flighty, one that somehow ended up with humans quite late on in life (8 months I would guess) that we see little of.

The first one lives happily in a large run etc with a domestic bun who he loves, the other two live in the specially constructed layered run combinations that we have, with two domestic buns (nethies) and interact with them - however we rarely see much of one them and he is very nocturnal - but we occasionally see him hiding behind the others and he seems to have a bond with the nethie girl a bit (we DO make sure we see him looking well once a day obviously!).

We also let them run on the lawn as often as we can ( a couple of times a week)

I personally would not release any of them into the wild and expect them to live - especially as we have no idea where they originally came from.

The two that live with the nethies arrived seperately and live peacefully with each other and the nethies (I would not go as far as to say they have strong bond).

The one that lives with Pansy the domestic bun he loves hates all other buns and bites their bums.

The two boys are castrated the girl will be neutered in a couple of weeks.

In terms of this gentlemans bun . . I do not think on the whole I would advocate release - and certainly would not advocate pts - I would try and find a home where the bun can live to its own rhythms and with as much space as can be managed and seems to keep the bun happy.

PS the runs/combinations we have are difficult to describe but imagine a sort of chalet of 9ft by 7ft with the sloping roof fully boarded - boarded at the back half and then the front half open (meshed,) within that a 'hutch' or bedding area is built in half way up the back wall with ramps and different levels built for access to the hucth and to provide more levels. The 'hutch' has a flat top that is also accessible. The floor is covered in aubiose and hay, as is the hutch and hutch top.

so a lot of exercise space for the footprint of the run size - then we also have the lawn/garden.
 
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I would also agree that she's probably best off staying in captivity and finding a domestic bun to bond with. I have heard that even rabbits that are soft released back near a warren are never included fully by the resident wild buns and don't stand a very good chance. I'd be especially wary with her previous injuries too. It sounds like she has a lot of space and care atm and I don't see much wrong with the gentleman keeping her where she is.

In terms of bonding her I know that a few rescues get wild buns or wild crosses in. He might me more comfortable keeping her with a bun thats more 'compatible' in terms of background. I don't see much wrong with bonding wildies with domestics though and I've heard of a number of people with successful wildie/domestic pairs.

My wildie Logan was brought to me at about 3 weeks and I'm about to bond him with two domestic girls once they're spayed. If this post was only a few weeks older I'd have some first hand experience bonding a wildie! He is the the most gentle rabbit I've ever had though and I'm not expecting any serious issues (fingers crossed!)

I hope his question is answered and wish him and his bun the best of luck :wave:
 
I have three wildies -

one raised by hand and very human friendly; one brought in to a rescue at about 6 weeks and flighty, one that somehow ended up with humans quite late on in life (8 months I would guess) that we see little of.

The first one lives happily in a large run etc with a domestic bun who he loves, the other two live in the specially constructed layered run combinations that we have, with two domestic buns (nethies) and interact with them - however we rarely see much of one them and he is very nocturnal - but we occasionally see him hiding behind the others and he seems to have a bond with the nethie girl a bit (we DO make sure we see him looking well once a day obviously!).

We also let them run on the lawn as often as we can ( a couple of times a week)

I personally would not release any of them into the wild and expect them to live - especially as we have no idea where they originally came from.

The two that live with the nethies arrived seperately and live peacefully with each other and the nethies (I would not go as far as to say they have strong bond).

The one that lives with Pansy the domestic bun he loves hates all other buns and bites their bums.

The two boys are castrated the girl will be neutered in a couple of weeks.

In terms of this gentlemans bun . . I do not think on the whole I would advocate release - and certainly would not advocate pts - I would try and find a home where the bun can live to its own rhythms and with as much space as can be managed and seems to keep the bun happy.

PS the runs/combinations we have are difficult to describe but imagine a sort of chalet of 9ft by 7ft with the sloping roof fully boarded - boarded at the back half and then the front half open (meshed,) within that a 'hutch' or bedding area is built in half way up the back wall with ramps and different levels built for access to the hucth and to provide more levels. The 'hutch' has a flat top that is also accessible. The floor is covered in aubiose and hay, as is the hutch and hutch top.

so a lot of exercise space for the footprint of the run size - then we also have the lawn/garden.

Thank you for that, I'm not sure what 'pts' stands for, but your situation gives us ideas.
 
I would also agree that she's probably best off staying in captivity and finding a domestic bun to bond with. I have heard that even rabbits that are soft released back near a warren are never included fully by the resident wild buns and don't stand a very good chance. I'd be especially wary with her previous injuries too. It sounds like she has a lot of space and care atm and I don't see much wrong with the gentleman keeping her where she is.

In terms of bonding her I know that a few rescues get wild buns or wild crosses in. He might me more comfortable keeping her with a bun thats more 'compatible' in terms of background. I don't see much wrong with bonding wildies with domestics though and I've heard of a number of people with successful wildie/domestic pairs.

My wildie Logan was brought to me at about 3 weeks and I'm about to bond him with two domestic girls once they're spayed. If this post was only a few weeks older I'd have some first hand experience bonding a wildie! He is the the most gentle rabbit I've ever had though and I'm not expecting any serious issues (fingers crossed!)

I hope his question is answered and wish him and his bun the best of luck :wave:

Ours is very gentle as well, she comes out at night and eats watching us, as her two level home home is outside our lounge window. If we go out she hops inside the top level so we can reach in and give her a fuss. The show she puts on in the garden is very acrobatic, very fun to watch, and she grazes if we are out there. Too bad we have to stay up until 1am to give her company! We will try to bond her, as we don't know how to do that yet we will ask some friends who used to keep rabbits for help.
 
where is the op based? rabbit residence in hertfordshire has dealt with part-domesticated wildies. caroline is always happy to give advice. they have a wildie called mickey who escaped, doesn't let himself be recaptured, but hangs arpund the rescue for protection.
 
where is the op based? rabbit residence in hertfordshire has dealt with part-domesticated wildies. caroline is always happy to give advice. they have a wildie called mickey who escaped, doesn't let himself be recaptured, but hangs arpund the rescue for protection.

Birmingham
 
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