Cottontail Rabbit Has Surprise Complication During Rehab

The following story about a cottontail rabbit was submitted by Red Creek Wildlife Center in Pennsylvania.

The most unusual case Red Creek Wildlife Center admitted this year was of a cottontail rabbit that suffered from a car accident. This female rabbit arrived with a severe head injury and was on tube feedings with EmerAid IC Herbivore and fluids for almost a week. She had almost recovered enough to be released when we discovered that she had given birth in the den we provided for her.

Cottontail rabbits are extremely difficult animals to rehabilitate. They experience high stress when in rehab, and success rates are lower than with other species. We have had rabbits give birth at Red Creek on occasion in the past, but none ever survived. Most were stillborn or rejected by the mother, leaving us to hand-raise them from birth. These newborn bunnies, however, had tummies full of milk. Mommy rabbit had nursed them after they were born.

Because we didn’t want to disturb Mother Rabbit and her babies, the family was checked only once daily. Each morning the family was removed from the den so we could replace soiled bedding and supply fresh food and water. The whole process took only a minute or two and gave us time to check on the babies and take pictures.

When the babies were six days old, they decided to nurse during this cleaning process, and we had the opportunity to video the feeding. The movie went viral on Facebook and was viewed 1.4 million times, had 45 thousand reactions, and over 900 comments.

Two weeks later, Mother Rabbit and her babies were released together behind Red Creek’s clinic building. The adult mother ran off like a shot, but the babies hung out and explored the lawn for a while. They are still seen daily by staff on their rounds up by the pond and are doing well.

(Photos show the babies at 1 day old and 5 days old. Third photo shows the rabbit family before being released.)