This morning at about 8am, I get a phone call from Bruce. “Hey, you awake enough to take Issac? We’re going to go to the hospital and try to have a baby today.” I can hear the smile in his voice. I say “Yeah, sure. I’m good.”, and he says he’ll be over in just a few minutes. 15 minutes later, he shows up and hold a towel out to me. “Here, a present for you. It’s a baby rabbit.” Sure enough, squirming around in the towel is a tiny wild cottontail. Bruce says “It was squirming around in the driveway. It was either run it over or bring it here.” So, during the course of the past two hours, Christine’s been admitted into the hospital, and I’ve been on the phone with every wildlife rehab person in Georgia. With the help of a few web sites like this one, I’ve found that the best chance this guy has is for me to find the nest and replace him. This baby is less than 6 days old, and must have been picked up by a predator. Mama rabbit never moves the babies that young. I’m hoping to find the nest later on tonight at around dusk, because that’s when mom-bunny comes back to feed them. One wildlife rehab person told me to try and feed him a little sugar water in the meantime, so I mixed some up. I fed it to him, and he(it?) seemed to perk up a bit. They sleep all day in the wild, so I’ll take sleeping now as a good sign. He’s got one small scratch on his foot and another on one side, perhaps from the driveway flopping, but more likely from whatever put him there. Septicemia is fatal, so I’m hoping he wasn’t hurt by a cat.
Edit: 10:19PM. The bunny did not make it. Trinny and I went looking for the nest and found a sibling who also did not make it. At least he died warm and with a full belly. That counts for something, I guess.
2 Comments
I found your site quite by accident, while looking for info on making kanzashi, as if I would know what the heck I would be doing...So, I've been pretty consumed with that and my current fascination with vivcore.com and suicidegirls.com, but then I read on through the wasp story and the baby rabbit that didn't make it, and the little black kittens. And I must say that I am a sucker for kittens, though I have serious allergies. I always, always seem to want to respond to people who like cats and other animals.
The beauty of it all, is that the way you write, I can picture the scenes you describe. Of course, it helps to be able to visualize places like Athens and Peachtree City. Having been in those places, I can evoke for myself as well the smell of the air, the cast of the sky, and possible swirling leaves or whispering grasses, because I am a Chattanooga native transplanted like a bonsai plant to what is currently a very bitter cold St. Louis. I miss the south, and reading your stories evokes some of what I miss.
Plus, you know how to make kanzashi. I am jealous. You seem pretty cool in my book. Anyway, nice reading your stuff.
[...] Spontaneously generated kittens Back in April 2003, I had this theory that garbage dumpsters spontaneously generated rabbits. This time, however, the dumpster created a litter of kittens. Here I am, sitting inside when John comes in and says “Heather, I think there’s somehting up with your car.” I’m like “WTF? What’s wrong with it now?” to which he replies “Kittens.” Brightly, I say “Huh?” and turns around to see him standing there with a mewing fuzzy spotted kitten perched on one shoulder. I grab my camera and head out, checking under the car for more. There are none there, so I’m thinking what we have is just a very adventurous young one out for a stroll. Then, we hear more mewing up the road.. by the dumpster! Another black kitten comes out from behind the can, and we hear more a bit of a ways off. A Korean couple has two more. They’re like “We no keep! You take!” So here I am, trying to juggle four squirming kittens in my arms, wondering what the hell to do with them. I plop them in the bathtub while John’s out looking for any more. I remember we had the KMR leftover from the found wild bunny, so I mix some up in a bottle. They are so hungry that they all jump the bottle and my hand, so I opted for a plate of the stuff instead. It worked rather well. They filled themselves up while I did some age research (they’re about 2-3 weeks old) and called the Athens Area Humane Society. They called me back at around 1pm, saying that they can’t take anything under 8 weeks, but they gave me another person to try: Meows without Moms. There’s no phone number, but hopefully they’ll get my e-mail soon. Note: No, the Stump is NOT pleased. Views(6) [...]