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Wooly Hopper

Active Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
43
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3
Location
Elsberry, Missouri, USA
So, I have a friend who's flemish giant had babies with a smaller bunny...
One bunny was born with a mangled leg..
The rest were healthy and fine.
So, ..deciding that the outdoor hutch needed to be cleaned she removed all the bunnies yet never put them in a contained area. No pen, no fence, nothing but an open yard, open road and a lot of high weeds and trees.

Of course, she didnt tell me this untill today and this happened on July 1rst.

All bunnies but the Flemish Giant and the mangled-legged-baby are gone. These two where the only ones she could (or even bothered) to catch AFTER she finished cleaning the cage. The rest are running around someplace. There's a lot of stray, ferrel cats, coyotes, hawks and dogs around. If any of them survive I'll be shocked but I don't want to just give up and say "oh well..."

I don't know where to start looking or how to catch them...

Are there any sugestions out there?
 
Omg that's horrible. I have no tips either but good grief, did she want them to go missing?
 
Oh no those poor bunnies..that's terrible....i really hope you find them...maybe you can try to lure them back with food or something.
 
Does she have mental health issues: dementia maybe? It sounds like she needs help with life in general. She really shouldn't be in charge of any animal's life.
 
Food wise , I know this sounds strange but it's kind of logical.. I've been searching nearby gardens. Just walking along the gravel road looking through them while I pass. I don't want to walk through them or get people upset I'm in their yard, though.

There's a cemitary close by (in her backyard, just about) and so I'll be walking through that this morning.

I can't get a straight answer on how many she had that are now missing. I dont think it's more then a five, maybe six? I'm not sure exactly though.

I'll talk to the Mailcarrier tomorrow (she happens to be the part time Vet assistant too!) and pass her my number in case she sees any of them on her rout.

The temp. has been in the tripple digits the past four days so they might be hiding under porches or someplace to keep cool. In this tiny town with it's 100 yr old houses, there's a lot of porches!
 
Sounds kind of like it was on purpose esp. if she isn't wanting to tell you how many she had in the first place. You can ask animal control for a humane trap and bait it with yummy greens or something of the sort. What will you do if you find them? doesn't sound like she wants them back.
 
LakeCondo wrote:
Telling the mail carrier sounds ideal. Maybe you also might post some fliers.
Click to expand...


The only worry I have with flyers is.. the bunnies being seen as a free meal deal. Nothing wrong with meat rabbits but I think these guys have gone through enough.

That is, if they survived.

There's no water, anywhere. Temps reached up to 107 this week and today it's 106. Before the heat wave we were already in the middle of a drought and quite a few farms have wells that have run dry. Fireworks had been cancelled for fear of starting fires because of dangeriously dry conditions. For a small town, that's just devistatingly powerful on just how bad this drought really is. Crops are suffering, small ranches are struggling and the larger ones are just lucky to have small pounds, lakes or a creek on their land.


So these guys are going to have a hard time finding water. Granted, they can munch grass and hope to keep hydrated but most of the grass and weeds are brown and withered.

I walked the road again today and found nothing.

The little cemitary has a tiny pound. It's barely got much more than mud. It's a water-source of sorts. So I'm going back there in the heat of the day.. in about an hour or so and see if any braved it enough to go out there. Stray dogs like to visit that place, so do ferrel cats. But where there's a slim chance, there's a 'chance' all the same


What am I going to do if I find any of them?

1. Straight to the Vet. (he's a block away on mainstreet, anyway)

2.Keep 1. I'm still waiting on an Angora from my friend but that could be months and months away. I don't mind two house bunnies.

3. Find good homes for the rest or hope that the HRS would have room for them on their adoption list.



Ooops, I almost forgot to let you know, that the Mailcarrier now knows, too. She'll keep a look out for me.
 
fantaysah wrote:
Sounds kind of like it was on purpose esp. if she isn't wanting to tell you how many she had in the first place. You can ask animal control for a humane trap and bait it with yummy greens or something of the sort. What will you do if you find them? doesn't sound like she wants them back.
Click to expand...


I wish Elsberry had an AC. Even the nearest towns don't have one. There's nothing in Silex, Foley or Windfield and certainly nothing in Troy .
I could see if one of my friends have live animal traps I can borrow. At worst they do sell them at Tractor Supply Inc. in Troy. Pricey but maybe having one around isn't a bad idea to begin with anyway.
 
Ok, Just returned and nothing so far.

I'm alerting a few of the neighbors and passing out my cell number, tho. Told them they didn't have to catch them if they see them but they can call me and I'd be right over, trying my best.


I'll go back out around sundown to see if they feel safe enough to come out where they might be hiding.
 
I thought every county had to have animal control. Someone has ti handle that. Maybe it's the sheriff, though I guess that would be for getting rid of a dangerous animal.

It's been nearly a week now. I think if you don't locate any by Sunday evening, you'll just have to say to yourself that you did as much as anyone possibly could.
 
How absolutely horrible. :( The odds of them surviving are pretty slim, but you may get lucky and find one or two. As for AC, all she has to say is they got out of the hutch. It will be nearly impossible to prove that she put them out herself. :(
 
wendymac wrote:
As for AC, all she has to say is they got out of the hutch. It will be nearly impossible to prove that she put them out herself. :(
Click to expand...

I wouldn't want to implicate my friend anyway. She may have been drinking or tweeking.. she has some problems. I just couldn't add more to that for her.
 
:dancingorig:


I found two! TWO of them!

One of the neighbors that I passed my number to called me and said she had one 'wild' rabbit running around with a smaller black one. I kind of thought that was odd so I went to see for myself and sure enough, in her shed were two of the bunnies. The flemish giant mix baby girl and the mini-rex adult female.
They were so desperate for help that the minute I tossed down a couple baby carrots (nice and cold from the fridge, too) they hopped on over..

I have them both in an X-Pen with a few cool cotten sheets to snuggle into, the fan is going to move some air and lots of water. I've never seen anything drink so much in all my life! I'm suprised that they look so well for what they've gone through.


Now... for thier future...


If I let their owner know I have them, she'll want them back. As much as I adore her as a friend, she just might not be able to be responsable.

I did get a hold of another friend and he knows a family that have been looking for a pet bunny of their own. I don't want to send them off (I really like the black mini-rex. She's a complete doll!) but, if they stay here, I could lose a prescious friend that simply has some issues to overcome.


Now, if I find any more... that might be an issue. But as far as I'm concerned, they girls will be safe.
 
I'm glad you found the 2. Wonderful news.

No way in h**l should they go back. Almost any other home would be better. If I were you, I'd keep the one you like. You needn't be completely honest with someone who wasn't honest with you. Just say someone knew you were looking for a pet rabbit & offered you one.
 
LakeCondo wrote:
I'm glad you found the 2. Wonderful news.

No way in h**l should they go back. Almost any other home would be better. If I were you, I'd keep the one you like. You needn't be completely honest with someone who wasn't honest with you. Just say someone knew you were looking for a pet rabbit & offered you one.
Click to expand...


I can't be that dishonest. I'm a terrible liar.

But it's okay! They went to their new family this morning. I just got back from dropping them off. I'm pretty sure they'll do fine. I did let the family know if there's a problem where they can't keep them then to just let me know and I'll go right back and pick them back up.
 
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