I am upset and sad the rabbit in my yard died

[NJmaverick]

There was a rabbit this spring that was in my yard regularly. He was brown with a white spot on his head and he wasn't shy around people. I named him Be-Bop Bunny and I had even set out a water dish for him (I set out carrots for him, but apparently bugs bunny mislead me). He was almost like a pet and I delighted in seeming him running around and I even have pictures of him. Well this morning I saw him and he looked a bit funny. Then a few hours later he is dead. :-(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear NJmaverick...

Ah, how sad...

I am so sorry to hear this...

I wonder what happened...

:hug:

[NJmaverick]

2. I don't know, he looked OK yesterday. I saw him this morning and he looked a little off

there was no trauma that I could see. I don't know if it was the heat or if he was sick.

[sarge43]

4. Could have been old age.

Wild rabbit life span o/a 5-6 years.

Peaceful passage Be-Bop.

[NJmaverick]

5. He was just a bunny this spring, so I don't think he was even a year old

[sarge43]

8. Could have been internal injuries then.

A failed attack by some predator. Very few wild rabbits make it to their second year. It's the principal reason they reproduce so proliferately.

[NJmaverick]

10. That could be, I didn't see any signs of trauma but that doesn't mean

a dog or other animal hadn't hurt him on the inside.

[sarge43]

12. Even a kick from another rabbit could be fatal.

Poor little guy.

[Crystal Clarity]

3. Ohhh sorry

:-(

RIP Be-Bop

[LeftyFingerPop]

6. I'm really sorry, NJmaverick...

I understand how you feel.

You have a good heart.

:hug:

[kimi]

7. I'm sorry!

I have domestic bunnies, and know how attached one can get to all of those that we care for.

I hope your little one had a safe passage, and my sympathies to you. It's always sad when these things happen.

[Haole Girl]

9. I saw the most disturbing story about people clubbing rabbits, in groups, during the Dust Bowl

I will spare you the details.

:hug:

[struggle4progress]

11. I expect they can be quite damaging to crops. If my food supply depended

on eliminating bunnies, I'd probably club them too. But since my nutrition is not affected by bunnies in my yard, I just sigh and think they're cute

The little blighters sometimes really damage my recreational plantings, though. For about four years, I tried to establish clover on bare patch of ground. Every year, it was the same story: the stuff would sprout, and I'd start to get a good ground cover -- and then holes would appear in the growth and spread until nothing was left. I couldn't figure out what was happening. Finally, I checked out my newest clover patch one afternoon, and it was doing fine: the next morning, I peeked out to check it again, and there was a happily gobbling little bunny plopped in the midst of a clean-picked circle of devastation. I gave up trying to establish that particular clover patch

[sarge43]

13. Could have been food. During the Dust Bowl some of those people were near starvation. n/t

[Haole Girl]

14. struggle4progress & sarge43-

The narrator said clubbing the rabbits to death served two purposes. One, it stopped rabbits from eating what little vegetation remained on the Southern Plains; 2. It was an outlet for people's frustrations. I thought it was a pretty sad commentary on people if they had to club to death rabbits to release their frustrations.

Some more info (and interesting pics):

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=757771

[hedgehog]

22. Even worse - the notion of "releasing frustraton" is based on the

outmoded concept of the brain as a steam engine - that if you don't let off steam in little ways, you'll explode.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

15. I saw something white in area

between our bedroom windows and the neighbor's fence
Mr 'pede went back to investigate and thought is was a dead cat, so he called animal control
The animal control came to retrieve it, it was a dead bunny and she said they had found several in the neighborhood, probably escaped from a backyard hutch

[NJmaverick]

18. I have since learned rabbits don't do well in the heat

seeing your profile is from Texas, that might explain what happened to the poor thing.

[cwydro]

16. Damn, that would make me sad too.

And howdy, btw, haven't seen you in awhile.

[NJmaverick]

17. It's good to see you to. It's been too long.

[cwydro]

19. Yeah, I've been in and out.

Rough few months lately.

Hope things are good with you:pals:

[NJmaverick]

20. I'm sorry to hear that, I hope things are getting better

for me things are better. Other than the bunny thing, things are going OK with me.

[cwydro]

21. Thanks for asking, but

not so much; they seem to be getting worse.

There is that old saying though right? About the darkest before the dawn and all that malarkey, right? Right? RIGHT??

Sigh.