Expert: Robin Flynn - 3/30/2007

Question
WE caught a baby rabbit and have decided to keep it i saw a comment about the heakth problems and rights and all that but what i want to know is how to keep it alive while taking care of it please comment back. thankyou

Answer
Hi Chloe,

It concerns me to see the word “caught”. I would never advise the trapping or catching of a  wild animal. If you found a baby rabbit and want to know what is best for the rabbit, I would recommend calling a local wildlife rehabilitation center. If you don’t know of any in your area please try calling any animal shelter or animal hospital. They usually have contacts to the rehabilitators in the area. Even if you feel you can care for this animal you need to understand infant lives are very fragile and if you don’t have the experience to deal with problems that may arise your could inadvertently hurt or kill this baby rabbit. However, if you call the rehabilitator and they feel you are equipped to handle the rearing of this baby then they will give you the best instructions.  I know baby animals are very cute but you need to do what is best for the animal now as an infant and what is best for the rabbit when it becomes an adult.   

Good Luck I hope you take care of this precious little life. If you are unable to get help please write back to me and I will try to get you in touch with someone who can help. I will not have access to email for the next few days so I am providing a couple of links with care instructions in case you need help for the weekend.

http://www.squirrelworld.com/RabRehab.html
http://www.geocities.com/crawdadcreekrehab/OrphanedBunny.html


For the animals,

Robin