I'm a nutty neighbor.

Friday my dog found a rabbit's nest with 4 babies in it. Their eyes were closed but they had good fur. He didn't hurt them but removed the nest material. I don't know how he did that without removing the babies. I told him to leave them alone and he listened. Wildlife rehabilitators I've talked to in the past say the mother only returns to the nest at night and to put a couple small twigs over the babies. In the morning if the mother has returned the twigs will be removed if not it's time to rescue the babies. I did this and Saturday AM she'd actually remade the nest with tuffs of her fur all around the babies. My dog stayed away most of the day but then caught him in there again. Again just removed the nesting material. The babies were fine in the bottom of a dirt hole and he didn't seem to care about them. Again I fixed the twigs. But Saturday night was to pose a different problem. The nest was in an area about 8 X 20 that is about 6 inches or so deep and planted think with day lillies. The rain off my house empties into that to help water it. There was talk of rain overnight and the nest would be flooded if it rained. But I hear it's going to rain all the time and nothing happens. As a bit of a precaution I detached the downspouts from the pipes leading to the area so the rain would just spill at the foundation and like that a sprinkle of rain shouldn't be anything to be concerned about. At 4am I awoke to a noise and thought is that rain? Then thunder and I said yup. Then it hit me and I sprung out of bed saying the babies. Here comes the nutty neighbor scene. I grabbed a flashlight and headed out into a really hard downpour. No umbrella as I couldn't hold it and do anything anyway. The area was completely flooded. I stepped in. Water poured into my shoes. In the flashlight I spotted one baby floating nose just above the water. He was cold and just barely moved as I picked him up and put him in a bucket. I was reaching and pulling through the daylillies shining the light everywhere even found myself saying babies, babies where are you but couldn't find the other 3. I figured I had to take the one I found in before he died. He was so wet, cold and limp but he still moved a bit. I took him in my hand, tucked his back legs under him and closed my hand around him to warm him. He fit so well only his tail and nose showed. I felt a breath then what seemed like a long time of nothing. I searched for a box and some towels or something still holding him. I felt another breath and over about 15 minutes or so of holding him he started breathing fairly regularly. I warmed some rags in the dryer and made a nest for him in a dry bucket and put a rag over him. In the AM he was still alive and seemed fairly well squirming as I removed the rag from over him. I got him to a rehabilitator Sunday afternoon. I glanced over into the daylillies in the AM when the water was gone but didn't see the others. After church I saw my dog go in there so I went after him and I did find them. As expected they hadn't made it. They were right where the nest would have been. I can only assume when I made it out there that night they were already gone and under water and that's why I couldn't find them. I'm sorry I couldn't save the others but it sure felt good to save the one. I always tell my dog not to hurt babies--it's not sporting--wait until they grow up.

I wouldn't say you were nutty ..Just compassionate towards living things...God tested you , and you excelled.

thank you. Put when it grows up it will come and dig up your most prized thing. Haven't you heard every good deed get punished. How did you feed it? That will be the hardest thing. I would of done it too. I guess the older you get the more you respect life.

Nice job. I hope I would have done the same thing. Almost disked over a rabbit nest once. A few days later the nest was all destroyed and rabbits gone. It was well hidden before I disked. It just got too exposed. And that's true the does only come to the nest a couple of times a day, usually morning and evening.

Larry

Years ago I was visiting my dad in Indiana. Went out to roto till his garden area. He hit a nest of baby rabbits. He was really angry with the guy who owned the land because the guy had told him the doe had moved the nest. My dad and all of us were pretty upset.

Well that rabbit will hopefully be released far from here when it's ready. It's mom or dad could have well been the little devil that ate 75% of my okra down to an inch tall one night this spring just as it had grown 6 to 8 inches tall. I have only probably 10 stalks left and while I've had none this year to give away or occasionally sell I have had enough for me. I didn't replant as that was the second planting. The first got about 2 inches tall and a heavy rain splatted dirt on them to where they looked like they were breaded and deep fried. Most then died. Also adding to the frustration was my seed wasn't germinating well--probably too old. Next year I'll get new seed.

I didn't feed the baby while I had it. I just took it to the rehabilitator as soon as I could.