I have always loved animals and becoming vegetarian was a must! I have always fed stray cats around my neighborhood. I have also adopted and housed a total of 12 felines in all my collected past years, still having 2 indoor ones now. I lived on acreage before and i also fed hummingbirds, and crows too. I am this Greek maternal woman who likes to see everybody eat, both human and animal!
When I moved to Vancouver Island, B.C in 2021, I was not aware that there was this over population of rabbits all over the island! It started with some uncaring humans, who obviously forget their ‘humanity’ and their heart obviously lacked compassion and sympathy! Many will dump their domestic pet rabbits wherever on the island and leave them to fend for themselves! I have always stated that animals are not like kleenex, one does not use them then throw them out! Shame to those that do not understand all animals are sentient beings!
I did not know I inherited an ongoing rabbit’s den! As the months went by, I saw small, cute poking heads venturing out from under my backyard sundeck! And it seemed each generation was producing more and more babies! Naive to this new experience I thought they would be safe in my fenced yard! I watched them for hours for their safety during the day, but at night, roaming cats or other predators would hunt some! It was heartbreaking! Some rabbits lived and dispersed to the neighborhood. Mind you this was happening to other yards too from other rabbits. But I knew of no one who took the efforts and time like I did to protect the babies! Yes, I understand the cycle of life, the strong survive, etc. but I felt that small sweet innocent baby bunnies, on my watch, should NOT be born just to become food! Anyway, in the winter last year, there was this decrease in sighting rabbits on my street! Not sure what happened, did the move on, did predators get them? Sad to think of this process!
Well, our first step, was to sacrifice our sundeck, tore it out and went under the crawl space to make sure no more babies were left there and then plugged up all the sides of the house at a big expense. It had to be done to stop them as it would have just kept going on indefinitely, as our soil is sandy and easily displaced by digging. But two rabbits who were obviously a bonded couple, hung around in my yard. I prepared for their next litter and I made a plan! I was determined to keep the babies safe and alive! I knew I had to be their champion! I started a war on predators you might say! When I say the next litter, I was not aware she could get pregnant so fast, one after the other, which caught me by surprise! So for both of these times I was there for her babies.
When the female would dig a tunnel for birthing in a tree mound, I would watch her when she came out when she was finished feeding them and she buried the tunnel back up. I knew eventually she would leave that tunnel hole open and the babies would venture out! I knew this was the vulnerable time for these sweeties. I had my son build me a protective spacious wood-wire hutch over the tunnel area. When the babies came out to from their tunnel, they were enclosed with safety! I would meet mom rabbit ( called her Jill ) early in the morning. We had a good relationship, she was smart, she knew I was helping. I would open the door hutch and she would jump in and feed her babies and when she came out, I would close the hutch. Eventually she stopped feeding and I took over for about 4 extra weeks with nutritious greens, hay pellets etc, feeding them twice a day, until they were bigger and could go to the animal shelter in my area. I did this 2 different times and saved 19 baby bunnies! None were lost this time! It made my heart sing, knowing they were safe, fed and I could see them often at the animal shelter.
I knew though that these multiple births could not go on indefinitely, so to give the couple a chance to rest and myself too, for I am a senior with bad knees, and needed a break also! I just wanted this cute couple ( the male i named jack ) to just have fun being rabbits and not just birth machines! My son and I captured them in a humane cage and took them to the shelter where I paid for them to be spayed and neutered. This has now been done, and we are building a spacious hutch in our yard, with an outside safe chicken run. Jack and Jill will soon come home to their very own safe place, being taken care with affection and attention! Can you imagine if I had left those 19 babies to go out and all start the birthing process all over again! Yikes! I believe I did a service for my neighborhood too. The bunnies I took to the shelter have safe homes now, well fed and taken care of! I know because I have also been volunteering at this caring wonderful animal shelter and have been caring for them still as well as other volunteers. It is great to see them grow up into handsome adults, some of which have been adopted by responsible pet parents.