Minty Outing Hop

Minty has been a bit of a concern lately. Her wild blood makes her very nervous around people, you'd rarely see her out in their aviary let alone at meal times, so having discovered she has dropped some weight it has been very difficult to observe her.

Since having an outdoor grass area to play on occasionally has done wonders for wild-cross head-tilt bunny Thistle, Caroline decided to move Minty and Eccels into a SNU (Special Needs Unit) bordering a grass patch for them to play on. The next problem was - how do you persuade her to come out? We wouldn't let them out unsupervised in case of passing predators, but with people around there was no chance she'd appear. Or so we thought...!

A few days ago I was at the Rescue dishing out breakfast and decided to give them a go. No other volunteers had turned up (everyone is on holiday this week), Caroline was at the top of the Rescue seeing to a new arrival, so it seemed the perfect time. I fed all the bunnies in that section and left their door open. A few minutes later after I had chopped some more veg, I peered over the hutches bordering the grass and there she was - hopping about, sniffing, investigating, digging, basically acting just like any other bunny making the most of her playtime! Occasionally she'd return to their SNU for a few moments, as any bunny would tend to do, checking they can rush home without any obstacles in case of emergency. But yes, result, happy bunny!

And oh, so beautiful! I've only ever seen her crouched under hutches or in hay with her ears flat trying to look small, seeing her at full stretch with her ears up was a real sight to see! Of course I tried to get some photographs, but that was a bit much for her. This one I thought was going to be good...

...but (a) she clearly spotted me and wasn't looking so relaxed and (b) in my hurry to get it before she ran off the autofocus locked onto the door frame and she went out of focus. Ho hum. Well seeing her out made my day and hopefully if we have some more Minty playtimes I will eventually get a good photo!

Have a good Thursday everyone and everybun!

Where's Minty?

Wild In The Country

We have had a small number of wild rabbits handed in to us over the years, for example where their nest has been dug up and destroyed, or their mother killed, or they've been brought in by someones cat etc. Where we are able to minimise human contact, most will maintain their survival instincts and can be released back in to the wild, though occasionally some have long term health problems (like missing teeth) or on rare occasions the nursing has been so hands-on that they become too accustomed to humans and effectively become domestic themselves. Our friend Minty, pictured below, is currently undecided as to which way she wants to go...

"I do dream of open fields. If only I could get these silly humans to deliver my breakfast there I'd be sorted."

I say small number. Over the 5+ years volunteering here I'd seen maybe a dozen come in, then a few months ago we suddenly had 12 come in the same week. So young they were that they needed syringe feeding milk, so we were a little worried that, should they survive, they would become too attached to Caroline and lose their wild ways. Especially this chap.

"Whatchulookinat?"

We are lucky enough to have a good and fairly local contact for releasing onto private land in a relatively (as much as it can be) safe part of the countryside. This is a centre that specialises in taking in sick and injured wild animals, including rabbits, until they are well enough to return to the wild, so they are very skilled and experienced. So as soon as we felt our little group of 12 were ready, off we went. Things didn't go exactly to plan however. Here was the first release attempt a few weeks back...

They wouldn't leave the carrier and when Caroline lifted a couple of them out they just jumped onto her lap. So in agreement with our expert colleagues from the centre, after a short distraction rounding up the one little bun who decided to venture out a couple of feet just to sit under a tree, we packed them all back into the carrier and took them back to the Rescue.

Well here we are, several weeks on and more grown up, and they really were ready to move out. So yesterday I am pleased to say that they were collected and taken back to the countryside to return to their natural home.

We will miss their strange ways. One time they went missing and were found squashed between the back of their hutch and the aviary wall several feet off the ground like little bunny-ninjas, trying to avoid detection. Another time when I had broken my usual routine and fed their neighbours before them, I returned with their food to find a group of them waiting in a row, presumably having thought when they heard me leave that I had already left the snacks and not expected me to return. It doesn't sound much, but when you would normally just not see them at all it was a very odd experience seeing 5 properly wild bunnies seemingly waiting in a line. But much as we will miss them, of course we are happy that they have returned to their natural habitat.

May you live long and exciting lives, little ones.

Minty Green

"Oh.  You found me.  In the interests of self-development, perhaps you'd like to go and re-consider the level of coincidence involved in the timing of your arrival and my disappearance?"