Catching Bunnies

I have a question. How do you catch rabbits after someone dumps them without stressing them out?

I took Apollo to the park this evening. He loved it. We ran into aneighbor while we were there. She said that someone dumped threerabbits in her yard. She asked if I want them because our only shelterhere would put them down if homes aren't found. She doesn't want that,so she asked if I would help. Like I could say no lol. But I have noclue how to catch them. There are so scared and will only come towithin five feet of us. I don't want to stress them any more than Ihave to but I need to catch them.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Tina

Hi, dajeti! I don't have anyconstructive suggestions for you as this is out of my level ofexpertise, but I just wanted to state how kind you are to want toassist these poor unwanted bunnies!

This is a wonderful way to honor Athena's memory.

Tina in this caseI would think it wouldbe better to stress them trying to catch them than letting them runwith no food and water. Also there are other dangers likelarge dogs , cars and children who might run them todeath. Animal control officers might have sometraps that you could borrow. They are not the kind that hurtthe animal but just traps them. How long have theybeen out in her yard? Is the yard fenced in? Buckmay be able to give you some tips on this. I think he hasused a net in the past. Good luck ! I do not knowwhy people just dump animals off. I think that is somean. They probably were not taken care of anyway.I hope they can find a good new home with yourhelp. Beckie

BM You are right this would be a wonderful way to honor Athena's memory. Beckie

what I would use is one of thies big pool nets ora fishing net...the ones that come with big long poles so you can catchthem but still be 5 feet away from them. If you do it quick they won'tbe stressed for very long, and it's better than them being starving andwaterless in the backyard. Or call Animal Control and say your rabbitsgot free and you can't catch them. They'll come help but they won'ttake them from you.

Hi there, Ryan Here

If you want to make a trap real easy then you need the following:-

1) cardboard Box

2) Big sock (for small wabbits)or a sleeve off an old top(for bigger ones)or summat

3) bowl of food

now then, take the box, cut a rabbit sized hole in one side, near thebase, now if you have a sock, cut the end off it, if you have a sleevethen no worries, take the sock or sleeve and tape or staple it to theinside of the box, put the bowl of food in the box and put the boxoutside.

The rabbit will be able to get in through the sock or sleeve but willstruggle like hell getting out, there you go, take in the rabbit/s,repeat as neccessary, minimum fuss and of course minimum stress

Hope this helps you, but the net idea would most likely work as well,although the rapid action of you lunging for the bun would scare it todeath and my moneys on it leggin it before you get it, also chasing itaround would not only stress the poor thing but also probably wear youout unless there are a couple of you all ideas are good :dude:

Two days ago is when some heartless sob threw thebox of bunnies over the fence. My neighbor has been feeding them andgiving them water. Thank fully she has a fenced yard seeing as how thespeed limit on our street is 45.

There is a brown and white one, a gray and white one and a white onethat has a black stripe down it's back and black spots. The brown oneis going to stay where he or she is. My neighbor is going tomorrow tobuy everything and move the baby in.

I want to thank you BunnyMommy and 2bunmom. What you said about Athenawas very touching. I was also thinking the same thing. I miss herterribly. But I must admit my heart melted when I saw the gray bunn. Heor she looks like a miniture Athena. I don't know.

I think I am going to try the nets first. There are going to be six ofus and two nets. If that doesn't work, Ryan I will definitely try thebox.

Tina

no worries, provided there arent many places to go6 should suffice, another idea is to herd them into a corner, where ablanket can then be used to stop them from getting away, (sort of likespread the blanket out between you and move towards them keeping themin one place while you scoop them up )

You have a good heart for helping those buns out.I caught one using the blanket technique and once they are covered theyare calm. See you are a bunny rescue person.

I wasn't able to go today cuz it was raining.Hopefully tomorrow will be the day. They are doing really goodconsidering their circumstances. As soon as my husband heard me talkingto my son about the rabbits, he said" you're going to catch them andfind them good homes aren't you?" How well he knows me lol.

I will keep everyone posted as we go along.

Bunty, thanks for the idea. I'm going to bring a box and blankets. Thank you for the kind words.

Tina

Yes, I was going to suggest the blanket.We use a crab net, looks like a butterfly net on the end of a longpole, which you can buy at most sports stores, to capture ourrecalcitrant buns after they've been free ranging all day.

Good luck with that. I don't believe the circumstance is a"coincidence," by the way. Everything happens for a reasonand maybe Athena has a way of telling you that everything isgoing to be okay.

Buck

I couldn't agree more Buck. Especialy when I saw the little gray one. I couldn't believe how much he or she looks like Athena.

I have given it alot of thought. In fact I've thought of little else. Ithink the gray and theblack and white are going to stay here.I don't think I'll be able to let the little gray "Misty"or "Dusty" go.My son and husband have their hearts set on the little black and white"Spot" or"Gremlin". Yea, we named them already.

I'll keep you posted.

Tina

JUst checking to see if you were ablew to get those little buns. Was thinking about them

We weren't able to try and catch them yesterday.It rained and they went under the deck. So we ware going to try today.Wish us luck.

Tina

Good luck, Tina!

We're rooting for you!!!

Make sure you let us know when everything comes together!

Good luck. I am so glad that you will be giving them a better home than what they had before.

have you got them yet?

Great News!

We finally caught them all. I'm so tired lol. Theywere all fine once we caught them. We used the blanket first. Thatdidn't work. The little escape artist were running right through. So weused the nets.They all have new homes. The neighbor iskeeping one and so is her niece and a cousin. They just had no idea howto catch them. Sadly, the brown one has a sore on her tummy. They aretaking her to the vet tomorrow. They have fleas too. Other than thatthey are doing really good. They actually took hay out of our hands. Ieven got a small nudge from the gray.

I am so relieved. I want to thank you all for your ideas and for all the wonderful support.

Tina

Way to go!!! Are you keeping one yourself?

Rose