not sure what to do

about 2 hs ago my husbandcame home from work ,he works on a farm , he handed me a boxand said dont open it till itell you this . ok so me beingme didnt look , he proceeds to tellme he had been watchinga coyote and it seemeto be after something, his first thought wasthe cats andhens around the placeso he went and gotthe shot gun , as he issupposed to do , thecoyote lunged at something hedidnt see what so hefired the gun killingthe coyote , he wentto see what it wasthe coyote had holdof, when hesaw what it was heran with it in his handskicking and scratching biting etcto get a box. Now hesaid go ahead open t he box , i was alittle leery of it at firstcause i was moving , i openedit and inside is this poorskinny tore up wildrabbit ( hare ) i think as itis all white with under hairsof blackish brown okstory done now comesthe hard part i have to tryand fix the wounds that dernanimal inflicted on the HareBUT ! 1 i cant get near it now that itsin a cage 2 poor thing ishalf out of its mindwith fear and pain , its in alarge cage with a boxto hide in with lotsof hay,3 what do i feed iti have offered itwhat i feed my lactaingdoes which istheKay Tee , it has nibbled atit so far but i am worriedit isnt the right stuff ,tomorrow ( monday ) i am takingit to the vets so ican get the woundsfixed most of the wounds aresuperficial but one is kindagross looking and ideas?? i know if i let itgo before it is 100% healthyit will just beanother preditors dinner

 

[pamnock]

The best place to take it would be a local wildlife rehab.

Pam

 

[bunnylover78642]

So sad my dogs and cats all catch wild hares andthen we have about a collection of them around spring. Last year we had4 at one time. Some of them lived but we had one that was so small itjust opened its eyes. The problem was if we put it back outside catswould get it and if we kept it it would die anyway. Well, my cat fixedthe problem. I decided to keep him on a kitten milk intill we couldtake him to the vet and my cat stuck his paw in the cage and swatt himright out. It killed him, he was so scared.:X

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Carolyn]

pamnock wrote:

The best place to take it would be a local wildlife rehab.

Pam

I second that emotion. Wild rabbits rarely do well in captivity, unfortunately.

The best chance for it's survival is in their hands. Besides in manystates, it's illegal to try to rescue a wild animal yourself. It'sreally for the best of the animal.

Offer the little one a bowl of water and take it to the an Audobon Center as soon as you can.

-Carolyn

 

thanks for the fast replyi called our local wild lifeagent he said go ahead and tryit over night he would getwith me in the tomorrowsometime unfortunately there is no onearound here he could think oftht was prepared to handle awild rabbit he questioned me as tothe where whens whys how etc"told him everything i was told , hesaid go ahead feed it waterit and go ahead and vet it IF!( growel ) i wanted to go theexpense ( kicks thestool ) ifthe poor little thing suvivesthe night i definately will vetit i have already contacted myvet and he is going to seta room for isolation forwhen get there so asto not endanger theother animals (did i mention i lovemy vet ) he is alsolooking up one of theanmal rescues which dealswith wild critters . bythe size of thisrabbit it looks to be somewherebetween 6 months and a year oldbut as with any wildanimals looks can bedecieving for age i will know moretomorrow will keep you postedas to how things go .acccoringto our wild life official there isa large coyote problemhere more than they can dealwith so his theory was onedown lots more to go , and i think whatsniffed me off the most was thewell its only a rabbit after allgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr get back toya soon just had a kindlingof baby bunnies 6 new babiesyea!!!!!!!!!

 

[VNess2010]

Sorry to say this, but the fact that he killedthat coyote really upsets me...he was just going after his food and nowhe's dead...poor thing

 

[m.e.]

VNess2010 wrote:

Sorry to say this, but the fact that he killed that coyotereally upsets me...he was just going after his food and now he'sdead...poor thing

I feel the same way, but...

It is year-round open season on coyotes in Maine and New Hampshire.There is a massive overpopulation problem, and they are becomingnuisance animals. I don't agree with the way it is being handled but Ijust wanted to clarify what a problem coyotes are here in northern N.E.

 

[VNess2010]

I mean, I guess that makes sense....but back whenwolves were a problem, they killed them off...and now they areendangered...I'm just a canine lover and I've got some personal issueswith that...sorry

-Vanessa

 

[m.e.]

Hey, no problems here Like I said, I disagreewith the method. Coyotes have become the top predator, and weobviously shouldn't be wiping them out. They're really starting to fillthe vacuum that wolves left: they hunt in packs, they're taking downdeer, and Maine coyotes are actually 75% larger than other coyotes inthe U.S.

But coyotes breed at a rate much higher than that of wolves.When the wolves were around, they kept the coyote population in check.Yes, they'd kill their smaller canid cousins. Without any otherpredatory species to keep their numbers under control, coyotepopulation has exploded. They are killing pets and attacking children,and that's not an exaggeration. Again, I do not advocate killingthem as a means of population control (I think a modifiedtrap/neuter/release program would have greater sucess here, as it hasin other parts of the country) but I just wanted to give you a widerperspective on the issue.


Getting back on topic...

How's the little guy doin' tonight?

 

[VNess2010]

M.E.

I definitley did not know some of those facts you just threwout. Thanks for opening my eyes. I do agree withyour trap/neuter idea...sounds much better!

Back on topic--Cosmo's doing just fine. I haven't triedclipping his nails again today...I'll do it when I think it is veryvery necessary...or maybe I'll just take him to the vetto get it done. I offered him a craisin tonight, but he spitit out...so I left it in his food bowl for him to get used to. When Icame back later, it was gone...so I'm guessing he figured out it wasn'tgoing to hurt him...haha...bun's can be so finicky! Remind meof cats...I know some of you don't like to compare rabbits tocats/dogs, but seriously...Cosmo is like a cat! except forall those binkies..haha, I think I would die if I saw one of my catsbinkie...tee hee

-Vanessa

 

[FairyTailFuzzies]

I'm a canine lover too but its a HUGE problem inNew England right now. I can't leave my little dogloosein the yard when I'm up there visiting my parentsbecause coyotes will come into the yard and take off with dogs, cats,and anthing else they can snag. My parents and most of thierneighbors have lost thier cats to coyotes if they let themoutside. I agree the trap /neuter method would be kinder!



So how is the wild bun?

 

the wildbun looks to be between 6 months and ayear, let me also say somethingthat wasnt said before coyoteshave decimated the wild rabbit population herein NH this is thefirst truely wild rabbit i haveseen since i was asmall child , i know mostpeople are canine lovers i havedogs myself but letme just say NOTHING willchill you to the bone fasterthan a pack of coyotes on akill its litterally makesyour blood run cold i DONOTadvocate killing them unless there isa good reason for it , and ona farm where animals area persons lively hood this tendsto be a necessity, icould get very graphic as towhat a pack of coyotes will doto a sheep while the poor thingis trying to calf ora cow for that matter, nothingis safe from these preditors ,The reason coyotes are getting largeris due to the factthere is no preditors likewolves and the fact ask yourlocal game officer they arebreeding with wildgery wolves creating ahybred canine that ismostly unstoppable. for anyone interested i wentdown and check the bunand he is eating andhe figured out the water bottle

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Here in Indiana we actually have a bounty onCoyote now. They have really become a nuisance and haveoverrun the areas. I see one daily in a field near the kids'school and one was running around a big subdivision where my friendslive.

 

[Bramble Briar86]

deer are a big deal in central illinois, theyissued a thing stating that like fourhundred deer can be killed orsomething like that! it's kindasad

but, then i think ofall the babyfawnsanddoes and bucks that get hit on the roads(the deer wereactually moving INTO the large cities) and not beingkilledupon impact, they suffer and i can't stand that thought, itmakesme evensadder...............

i guess, as the world gets more over-populated with humans, animalswill start suffering more, which is something i hope we can all helpstop. even though, animals DO suffer when populations overcrowd.

Ellie

 

[babybunnywrigley]

My town had acoyote problem lastyear. Thecoyotes weregoing into peoplesyards and killing dogs. I saw one running through myneighbors yard and throughout my subdivision. For a while weactually carried a bat around with us when we took our dog out to thebathroom :shock:

Jenn

 

[bluebird]

We have coyotes in Pa now. they are not nativespecies and i have heard the game commission released them, i alsoheard they just came here on there own.bluebird

 

[VNess2010]

Yes, I do understand what all of you are sayingand I'm not the kind of person to ignore other peoples thoughts andthink that onlywhat I have to say is right. I justwant to you let you know that. But just to let you know alittle about me:

I've had a fascination with wolves since I was about 10 and my goal inlife is to repopulate them and get them off the endangered specieslist. So, it's very hard for me to hear about people killingwild animals...that's all....

I have a soft spot for all animals, especially wild dogs...and I knowthis may sound horrible, but I really do care more about animals thanpeople. None of these overpopulation problems would exist ifwe had never stepped in.

Ok, stepping off my soap box, sorry to sound rude in any way, I'm really not a mean person,

Vanessa

 

[DaisyNBuster]

gypsy wrote:

......for anyone interested i went downand check the bun andhe is eating and hefigured out the water bottle

Thats a good sign. I think its great you are prepaird to take him/herto the vets. I know he's wild and should be free, but its good thatyour taking him overnight until someone else can take him. Good on youfor having the heart tolook after him.

Keep us updated as to what happens tomorrow either with the vet or with the Wildlife guy!

Vickie

 

[DaisyNBuster]

PS - We dont have a problem with coyotes overherebut if a wolf or fox came onto a farmers land, then overhere he is well within his rites to shoot. Not that I think its rightand I wouldn't do it myself, but you gotta do what you gotta do if theyare pests and kill your animals.

Vickie

 

[edwinf8936]

Coyotes down here have been breeding with looses wild dogs. They have been after calves and such.

Ed