Using the traps provided by animal control, I successfully caught six baby rabbits over Memorial Day weekend. Three black ones, two gray ones and a tortoise color fawnish one. Let me tell you, baby bunnies are extremely cute. But, being the good animal steward that I am, I resisted handling them because of course they were wild and while I knew they'd hold still for some petting, I also knew they'd be holding still because they were absolutely petrified with terror. So they all cuddled up against each other while I waited for Tuesday to come so that Animal Control would be open. I fed them lettuce and carrots and put a cup of water there for them to drink.
On Tuesday I put the rabbits in the back of the truck and closed the tailgate and campershell, and then put Sofia in the front seat. She had no clue she was riding with six yummy rabbits oh, so near.
When I walked into Animal control with six baby rabbits it was as if a Cuteness Magnet had been turned on. First there were two women there, then two guys showed up, all to "help" me with these baby bunnies. Okay, I thought to myself, they can make themselves useful and help me catch the adult rabbits so I won't have to go through this all over again. "Hey folks, come out to my place and help me catch the parents of these babies!" I exhorted, explaining what an ecological disaster it was to have feral domestic rabbits loose. Despite being fixated on the new rabbits, I got some nods and went out to my truck to get some business cards so they could call me. When I got back the room was full of people, including the director of the center, (a man), and every single person was holding a baby rabbit and cooing over it.
"Do you know how to keep a rabbit in the winter up here?" asked one of the female officers, petting the fawn colored baby.
Trying valiantly not to roll my eyes, I told her I had no idea. This is Animal Control, folks, the place where they are supposed to be pretty hard-nosed about animals, cute or not. Apparently baby rabbits are exempt from that. People were saying things like, "Hey, it's MY turn to hold him!" and "Come on, I haven't petted one yet!"
I gave my speech again, and did get the attention of some of the less cuteness-affected employees. A tentative plan was made to come out to my place and try to get the rest of the rabbits.
When I got home, I set the traps up again, of course, even though the adults had shown no inclination to go near them in three weeks. Still, I thought I might get lucky. And there was still one baby running around.
The next morning the traps were all upside down, thrown violently aside from the rabbit hole in the alfalfa in the barn, and the hay was strewn as if a wild struggle had taken place.
I haven't seen the mama rabbit nor the two black male rabbits since. I have possibly sighted one of the males by the road, but haven't seen him since. The baby is still living next to Sofia's doghouse (go figure).
There is a strong possibility that a fox, or even a lynx got into the barn and took care of the adults for me. Hey, that's life.
So for now, there's a truce with the rabbits. But we shall see. They grow up from unbearable cuteness to being the spawn of Satan in about ten minutes....and then go and have more babies. So we shall see.
