a reader of books
Warren Veteran
Hello everyone, I've been reading this forum for several years on and off, without ever registering, but now I need help with something and I thought this was the right place to ask. I'll make an introduction post soon. =) This will probably be a bit long, so I apologise in advance.
See, the thing I'd like some advice about is that about two and a half months ago I saw a small black bunny running around close to where I live. Assuming he was a stray I asked some help from family and we tried to catch him a couple of times by trying to enclose him with run panels. We didn't have any luck, sadly, because the area the bunny has made his home is quite big (a park-ish area, some allotment gardens, and a graveyard) and the bunny is very skittish. Then I couldn't do anything for two months because I needed to recover from surgery, so I asked the animal protection services (I'm not in the UK, so we don't have the same organisations) if they could try to catch him, even though they don't normally catch stray animals; they just come and pick them up when you've caught a stray yourself.
Now, I've recovered from my operation and last week I could take a walk outside for the first time in two months, and got an unpleasant surprise when I saw the black bunny still hopping around. So, after reading a lot on how to catch a stray rabbit, I decided to buy a humane trap. (I had, when I first saw the bunny, asked the animal protection services if I could borrow one, but was told they don't work for bunnies as they weigh too little to set off the trap. The trap I now have is so sensitive that I'm quite sure it would close if a mouse ran over the pressure plate, though, let alone a rabbit, so I'm guessing they only use traps designed for bigger animals.)
I've put a blanket over it and filled it with hay and and some veggies and herbs, to try to make it look more like a nice hiding place than, well, a trap, and in the early morning and evening, I put down the trap and wait, and while I always see the bunny, so far he hasn't come near the trap yet. Since it's in a public area, I stay close by so nothing will happen to the bunny if he does walk into the trap, and so he won't be stuck in there for long.
This is getting long and I haven't even gotten to my real problem yet. The thing is, there are wild bunnies living in the same area as the black bunny. Not an entire colony, though, as I've only ever seen two wild bunnies at one time, often together. The black bunny never seemed to interact with the wild ones, but this morning I saw the three of them all hanging out in the same patch of grass, which makes me wonder... is the black bunny simply a black wild one? Because from all I've read, wild rabbits would never accept a stray pet rabbit into their group, and I've read before that wild European rabbits can be black sometimes. I have two house bunnies myself, and I volunteer at a rescue centre for small wildlife, so I would hope I can tell the difference between a wild and a tame rabbit, and to me the black bunny's build and size looks more like that of a tame bunny (he's smaller than the wild bunnies, and still the same size as when I saw him first, so I don't think it's simply that he's very young), but I'll admit I'm not 100% sure. I know a picture would help a lot, but the bunny is so easily startled that I haven't been able to come close enough to take a photo yet.
So, I wondered if anyone has any advice on how to handle this situation, and how I can tell if the black bunny is wild or not? I'd appreciate any thoughts at all, as I'm not quite sure what to do. I don't want to accidentally "rescue" a wild bunny who is quite happy being out in nature.
See, the thing I'd like some advice about is that about two and a half months ago I saw a small black bunny running around close to where I live. Assuming he was a stray I asked some help from family and we tried to catch him a couple of times by trying to enclose him with run panels. We didn't have any luck, sadly, because the area the bunny has made his home is quite big (a park-ish area, some allotment gardens, and a graveyard) and the bunny is very skittish. Then I couldn't do anything for two months because I needed to recover from surgery, so I asked the animal protection services (I'm not in the UK, so we don't have the same organisations) if they could try to catch him, even though they don't normally catch stray animals; they just come and pick them up when you've caught a stray yourself.
Now, I've recovered from my operation and last week I could take a walk outside for the first time in two months, and got an unpleasant surprise when I saw the black bunny still hopping around. So, after reading a lot on how to catch a stray rabbit, I decided to buy a humane trap. (I had, when I first saw the bunny, asked the animal protection services if I could borrow one, but was told they don't work for bunnies as they weigh too little to set off the trap. The trap I now have is so sensitive that I'm quite sure it would close if a mouse ran over the pressure plate, though, let alone a rabbit, so I'm guessing they only use traps designed for bigger animals.)
I've put a blanket over it and filled it with hay and and some veggies and herbs, to try to make it look more like a nice hiding place than, well, a trap, and in the early morning and evening, I put down the trap and wait, and while I always see the bunny, so far he hasn't come near the trap yet. Since it's in a public area, I stay close by so nothing will happen to the bunny if he does walk into the trap, and so he won't be stuck in there for long.
This is getting long and I haven't even gotten to my real problem yet. The thing is, there are wild bunnies living in the same area as the black bunny. Not an entire colony, though, as I've only ever seen two wild bunnies at one time, often together. The black bunny never seemed to interact with the wild ones, but this morning I saw the three of them all hanging out in the same patch of grass, which makes me wonder... is the black bunny simply a black wild one? Because from all I've read, wild rabbits would never accept a stray pet rabbit into their group, and I've read before that wild European rabbits can be black sometimes. I have two house bunnies myself, and I volunteer at a rescue centre for small wildlife, so I would hope I can tell the difference between a wild and a tame rabbit, and to me the black bunny's build and size looks more like that of a tame bunny (he's smaller than the wild bunnies, and still the same size as when I saw him first, so I don't think it's simply that he's very young), but I'll admit I'm not 100% sure. I know a picture would help a lot, but the bunny is so easily startled that I haven't been able to come close enough to take a photo yet.
So, I wondered if anyone has any advice on how to handle this situation, and how I can tell if the black bunny is wild or not? I'd appreciate any thoughts at all, as I'm not quite sure what to do. I don't want to accidentally "rescue" a wild bunny who is quite happy being out in nature.
