This blog seems to keep returning to the theme of rabbits. A rabbit's nest is how this blog started about five years ago, and we've come full circle again. We removed the leaf-catcher net from our pool this spring but just rolled it up under the maple tree and never got around to shaking it out and properly folding it until today. And it wasn't until we'd dragged it out to the boulevard so we had room to work with it that we discovered a rabbit had kindled in it. Three little plump babies rolled out (plus one that had been deceased for some time). Oh no!
It was too late to restore them to where they'd been, and they're only about ten days old, not old enough to fend for themselves. I gently scooped them into a pouch made with my shirt---so smooth and sleek and beautiful--and scooped out a shallow hole under the maple tree near where they'd been. I lined it with leaves, clover, and whatever of mama's fur I could gather. I placed the babies in it and gave them a light covering of asparagus fern to give them shelter but hopefully not so much that mama can't find them. It's up to mother nature to take care of things now, I've done the best I can for them, but I still feel horrible about it.
For a while they snuggled down together and seemed content to wait it out, but when I checked on them at dusk, one of them had wandered off to explore. I think his eyes are open, but he's shaky and not able to hop yet. He has a spot of white on his head just like Brio's. He seems to have more spunk than the other two. I put him back in the nest and he snuggled down again. Now there's nothing to be done but wait to see if mama comes back. And pray the neighbour's cat doesn't discover them.
If she doesn't come back, my husband will have to figure out what to do next, because I'll be at work. I suppose it seems silly to worry over three rabbits when there's certainly no shortage of rabbits around here. And I'm a gardener, after all. But I really hope they'll be okay.
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