emay75
Active Member
hello all!
recently, my dad found a wild baby bunny after our dog killed the mother and other baby. I estimate he is about 4 weeks old (his name is Lemon)
we decided to bring lemon inside to avoid him being eaten by out cat or dog, and hes been in a medium sized wooden and mesh cage in my room with hay, grass, veges and water, for one night. Last night he ate all the food and i am assuming he drank from the water dish as well, and has also snacked on the grass i gave him this morning.
I wouldn't mind keeping him, my older sister has had flemish giants for years but after the last ones died of calicivirus, she hasn't gotten any more and we miss having rabbits around. I am aware that lemon will never be domesticated, and will only ever just tolerate humans but i am wondering if it would be inhumane to keep him long term or if we should let him go?
The thing is, theres a high chance the cat or dog will kill him once he is let go, and in new zealand (where i live) rabbits are pests, especially in the countryside, so is likely he will be shot my my dad once he is older anyway. it is also legal to keep wild rabbits as 'pets.'
i just really don't want him to be unhappy, is he old enough to really care whether he is let free or kept? if we keep him he will end up in a much much bigger cage outside (the cage once housed two flemish giants in it with room to run around and was hand built so is definitely large enough to comfortably house an adult wild rabbit, probably around 2.5x1m) or a large cage indoors that i used to have two mice in (around 1x0.5m)
i am very torn on the decision on whether to keep or free him, if anyone could help it would be appreciated!
-lena
recently, my dad found a wild baby bunny after our dog killed the mother and other baby. I estimate he is about 4 weeks old (his name is Lemon)
we decided to bring lemon inside to avoid him being eaten by out cat or dog, and hes been in a medium sized wooden and mesh cage in my room with hay, grass, veges and water, for one night. Last night he ate all the food and i am assuming he drank from the water dish as well, and has also snacked on the grass i gave him this morning.
I wouldn't mind keeping him, my older sister has had flemish giants for years but after the last ones died of calicivirus, she hasn't gotten any more and we miss having rabbits around. I am aware that lemon will never be domesticated, and will only ever just tolerate humans but i am wondering if it would be inhumane to keep him long term or if we should let him go?
The thing is, theres a high chance the cat or dog will kill him once he is let go, and in new zealand (where i live) rabbits are pests, especially in the countryside, so is likely he will be shot my my dad once he is older anyway. it is also legal to keep wild rabbits as 'pets.'
i just really don't want him to be unhappy, is he old enough to really care whether he is let free or kept? if we keep him he will end up in a much much bigger cage outside (the cage once housed two flemish giants in it with room to run around and was hand built so is definitely large enough to comfortably house an adult wild rabbit, probably around 2.5x1m) or a large cage indoors that i used to have two mice in (around 1x0.5m)
i am very torn on the decision on whether to keep or free him, if anyone could help it would be appreciated!
-lena