It was rabbits. Four little baby rabbits.
Farewell, sweet little balls of soft fur. You brought extra joy to one of our summer days; and for that, we are grateful!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
An Unusual Find in the Potato Patch
On Wednesday of last week, Jeff was digging potatoes in our garden, and Josiah was going along with him to pick up the potatoes that Jeff uncovered, when suddenly his sharp young eyes spotted something in the row that didn't look like potatoes.
It was rabbits. Four little baby rabbits.
Jeff knew that, with their nest unwittingly destroyed by his spading fork, they were extremely vulnerable to attack by a predator, so he carefully gathered them up and eventually resettled them in a box with some grass and weeds for them to snuggle in. We wouldn't knowingly disturb a nest of baby rabbits or capture them or handle them or do anything like that. However, since their home was destroyed anyway, and they were kind of dropped in our laps, we did let the boys hold them and experience the exquisite delight of having something so small and so cute in their hands.
Shav was a bit too timid to hold one; but when David was holding it, Shav didn't mind touching it. :)
Their fur was so soft...
...but they were scrawny little things. I thought they were adorable however. :)
Jeff's tender side came out, and he patiently took on the task of feeding them with a medicine dropper.
It was a laborious job, but he did it a few times over the course of a day and a night...
...until he did some further research and discovered that it's incredibly hard to raise young cottontail rabbits...and, as a matter of fact, it's not recommended.
Believing that it was best to let them be back in the wild again, Jeff returned them to the garden, but only after talking with the boys about it and comforting Tobin who was particularly sad about having to say goodbye to them. He's always had a special interest in animals; maybe he'll be a farmer or a veterinarian someday? :)
Farewell, sweet little balls of soft fur. You brought extra joy to one of our summer days; and for that, we are grateful!
It was rabbits. Four little baby rabbits.
Farewell, sweet little balls of soft fur. You brought extra joy to one of our summer days; and for that, we are grateful!
So adorable! We found a little nest of baby rabbits in the backyard once when my husband was mowing the lawn. Luckily, he noticed them before he mowed over them! They were so cute and small. We didn't disturb them, though I would've loved to hold one. =0) We just let that one patch of grass grow taller for a few weeks. Now we have a mama wild turkey and 5 fuzzy babies that wander around our yard, along with a small raccoon family. The girls love to watch the wildlife around here.
ReplyDeleteThey ARE so very cute!! Jeff is such a tender-hearted man when it comes to caring for animals and especially for the hearts of his children (having to let the baby rabbits "go").
ReplyDeleteSo cute! It looks like they are getting excellent care.
ReplyDeleteSure hope momma took them back after they had human scent on them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child we found a family of baby bunnies in our garden and decided to let them be. A cat came and ate all except the runt (I'm NOT saying this to scare you) but my parents then let me raise the runt. I took care of that little bunny for weeks and weeks--feeding it milk/eggs and syrup from a bottle. It grew up healthy and strong and did well when I turned it loose. I understand leaving them to their Mama--you have sweet little "bunnies" of your own to care for. But just in case something happens to the Mama and you need to care for them, I wanted to encourage you that it can be done and the bunny will likely do fine : )
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