Wild Rabbits as pets

sam0626

Hiya,

My boyfriend is an avid hunter but last night while he was out he came across a rabbit and brought it home.

I'd say its about 12 weeks old...my question is..is it ok to keep wild rabbits as pets and if not, why?

I'm not to keen to be honest but he really wants to keep it.

Any advice would be great, thanks

AckwelFoley

I cant see a reason why not, but how did he catch it? Even young rabbitts are not easy to catch unless you put some lead in them or they are ill

sam0626

Thanks for the reply..

He said it was scared still and he picked it up...just wondering if they are safe in terms of diseases etc...the poor little thing seems terrified..trying to convince him it might be better off in his natural habitat but he really wants to keep it...even calls him Roger!

Bainne2

Well from the rabbits point of view of course it is terrified. It has been taken from an open area into an enclosed space, the home. It no longer has grass to eat and it is suddenly in close proximity to the species it fully intented to run away from. Although i think there is a possibility you could tame it, it would prob never quite settle, now that's not to say that in a possible 7yr life that it won't eventually be happy in human contact. My fear would be that because of its shock the bun may not want to eat, and their digestive systems shut down after 24 hours which lead to death. If the bun is happy to eat, then he is happy enough:rolleyes: If not then it is unfair to keep him.

Where is he at the moment? A hutch at the back of a garden would be very unfair as it would be a sudden change from fields of land. Inside the house would be better where he can have exercise and slowly get used to your presence without it being forced upon him (like being taken out of the cage)

Personally, I don't think it is right, if he really wants a bun it would be best to rescue a tame one in need . On the other hand it is very unlikely that the bun just let itself be picked up willingly, my guess is that he is ill, in that case than maybe some human care could safe its life.;)

hadook

Personally I'd let it go again. A 12 week old rabbit may tame enough to adapt to living as a pet rabbit but there's a very good chance it won't and the stress will kill it.

I've handreared wild rabbits from 2 weeks and from 4 weeks and it's much easier to reintroduce the 4 week olds to the wild in comparison - they've had that extra two weeks to fear imprint. At 12 weeks that rabbit knows full well that humans are the enemy.

LuckyStar

My father tried to keep a wild baby rabbit and it died of the stress.
If you want a rabbit there are plenty in the pet shops, why would you want a wild one?

Whispered

Without even touching on how unfair it is on the rabbit you should make sure he's not breaking the law. As far as I know it's illegal to trap and keep wild animals, could be certain species only but make sure it's not going to get him into trouble.

hadook

It's legal to keep them, just not in the best interest of the wild rabbits.

Hares are protected though - I had the spca keeping an eye on me while I handreared baby leverets last year for that reason. I didn't keep them (even though I really did want to! ) In general wild animals should stay in the wild unless there's a good reason to remove them & even then you should try to relocate them before taming.

NoNameRanger

helena.ryan wrote: »

Without even touching on how unfair it is on the rabbit you should make sure he's not breaking the law. As far as I know it's illegal to trap and keep wild animals, could be certain species only but make sure it's not going to get him into trouble.

Not illegal to take rabbits from the wild. Rabbits have no protection under the wildlife acts, neither do foxes, mink, grey squirrells, rats and mice.
At 3 months it's fully grown, will be difficult to tame and keep alive, though not impossible. He should release it or eat it:) more hassle than its worth, you can get ones that look almost wild in the pet shop. Though i do see the attraction in having a real wild rabbit as a pet.

Whispered

NoNameRanger wrote: »

Not illegal to take rabbits from the wild. Rabbits have no protection under the wildlife acts, neither do foxes, mink, grey squirrells, rats and mice..

Oops sorry - I just remembered when I had an injured bird, I was told to release it as soon as possible as it was illegal to keep it, I wasn't sure if it was certain species or not.

I can't believe mink are not protected - aren't they rare enough? (or am I thinking of a stoat?)

NoNameRanger

You must be thinking of Stoats:). Mink are the black lads and are from America. They are here because they escaped from fur farms. They caused alot of trouble, their numbers have settled down a bit now and they are not as big a problem as they used to be. Would be great if we could get rid of them though.

sam0626

LuckyStar wrote: »

My father tried to keep a wild baby rabbit and it died of the stress.
If you want a rabbit there are plenty in the pet shops, why would you want a wild one?

If you read my first post...I dont want it...

I was asking advice on how what do to with it....anyways we let it back out into the wild yesterday...back where he found it so hopefully it'll be ok...

Thanks to everyone for the advice

Sigma Force

At 12 weeks it's well weaned you did the right thing

It wasn't me!

Main problem with mink is that shooting them is impractical, and trapping can be time-consuming, and gets anti-hunting blood up. Dogs are about the best way to deal with them. They're not as fast-reproducing as a lot of other vermin we have though, which is good. Go right through waterfowl populations though.

AckwelFoley

helena.ryan wrote: »

Without even touching on how unfair it is on the rabbit you should make sure he's not breaking the law. As far as I know it's illegal to trap and keep wild animals, could be certain species only but make sure it's not going to get him into trouble.

no, rabbitts as cute as they are are not protected form anything really.
Myxomatosis was introduced for this reason.. and is still prevelant to this very day. An absolutely vile way to cull rabbitts as the suffering to them is immense and spread out over weeks.

Our man in Havana

Getting annoyed with posts like this - talking about killing animals be they pets or wild animals will NOT be permitted on this forum - if you must discuss killing head on down to the hunting forum.

All post with killing refrences have been removed - anymore & I get the ban hammer out.

Also I will not permit discussion on here about weapons & how affective they against animals - again HUNTING FORUM/SHOOTING FORUM not here.

artieanna

I'm glad to hear you let him go, he'll be much happier in the wild.

BryanL

sounds very early to be a 12 week old rabbit, which would be close to fully grown and unlikely to be picked up.
i wonder if it wasn't a very early leveret?
Bryan

dudara

When I was a kid my dad came home from the pub one night (he used to walk there and back) with a baby rabbit that he found in a ditch alongside it's mother's dead body.

The rabbit (Bugs!) lived with us for years. Initially he had a hutch inside the kitchen door and we would leave him out around the house at night. He was quite intelligent and destructive (he would even eat holes in net curtains so as to get through to the houseplants on the windowsills). He even chewed through cables. He loved going upstairs and running on the landing (I suppose that it was a big long stretch for him). Sometimes he wouldn't stop on time and he'd come bumping down the stairs.

He also loved crisps and got along with the dogs who were left inside. We have photos of Bugs and the dogs. For some reason though, you could not rub him under the chin, he hated it.

Eventually though, we moved him into a very large cage outside. That way he had more room, our back kitchen didn't smell of rabbit and my mother's houseplants could survive long enough to grow flowers.

He really was an excellent pet and very smart.

LuckyStar

snyper wrote: »

no, rabbitts as cute as they are are not protected form anything really.
Myxomatosis was introduced for this reason.. and is still prevelant to this very day. An absolutely vile way to cull rabbitts as the suffering to them is immense and spread out over weeks.

The stupid thing is that rabbits were introduced to Ireland in the first place. That was a screw-up because they multiplied like mad. Then myxomatosis was brought in to kill them. Then it spread to pet rabbits and a vaccine had to be made against it.

dudara

LuckyStar wrote: »

The stupid thing is that rabbits were introduced to Ireland in the first place. That was a screw-up because they multiplied like mad. Then myxomatosis was brought in to kill them. Then it spread to pet rabbits and a vaccine had to be made against it.

Are you by any chance mixing Ireland up with Australia and other new world countries? Link

sam0626

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Main problem with mink is that shooting them is impractical, and trapping can be time-consuming, and gets anti-hunting blood up. Dogs are about the best way to deal with them. They're not as fast-reproducing as a lot of other vermin we have though, which is good. Go right through waterfowl populations though.

Think you've got the wrong forum........

NoNameRanger

dudara wrote: »

Are you by any chance mixing Ireland up with Australia and other new world countries? Link

Luckystar is correct, Rabbits were introduced to Ireland by the Normans nearly a thousand years ago. So rabbits are not native to ireland. They also introduced the Brown Rat, the Hedgehog and the Fallow Deer.

LuckyStar

dudara wrote: »

Are you by any chance mixing Ireland up with Australia and other new world countries? Link

No. Did you read that page you linked to yourself? It says rabbits were introduced to the British Isles.

dudara

It was the miximitosis (?) reference that threw me off. Apologies.