Somebody stole all my rabbits out of my back yard last night, except for eight one-day-old kits left to die. They are currently alive and being kept warm but need to nurse. If there's anyone nearby that has nursing does, please contact me soon and I will bring them by. They are NZ/CA hybrids and it would add insult to injury if they all starve to death.

larsentown@gmail.com

That's awful! I am so sorry to hear of the theft- I hope you find whoever did it. Good luck finding a foster. Have you tried contacting local feed stores or clubs in your area to find local breeders?

Haven't tried that yet, I will get right on it. Thanks

I'm so sorry this happened to you, Greeleyfarm. That is really low.
Hope you find a foster mom in time.

thanks, yeah, and now I find out I have ten babies on my hands, not eight. Pretty low indeed.

Wow thats aweful! If I was closer Id take em for you so they could nurse off of one of my does. Hope you find someone that has a foster doe near you soon.

Nothing ever happens within driving distance of me. Have you tried the yahoo groups? There are many rabbit groups and I believe an arba group for each district. You just have to figure out your district (might be on arba site).

That is so sickening... I sure wish I could help!

If you want to attempt hand feeding while you look for a foster mom, here's an excellent page -- http://www.mybunny.org/info/newborn.htm (note that it's talking about wild cottontails, which the page says feed usually only once a day... your babies will need twice a day).

We hand fed several babies from a litter starting when they were less than a week old. The formula I used was:
1/2 Cup canned goat's milk (evaporated, so it's concentrated)
1/2 Tablespoon corn syrup
1 Egg (raw)

I wrapped each baby in a rag, and fed it VERY slowly with an eyedropper. You have to be very patient and slow. You stop when they look like they swallowed a shooter marble. You can overfeed, as I learned.

You need to pee and poo them, too, and that site tells you how.

When I was supplementing Feather's kits, I used a kitten bottle with a big hole in the nipple made by heating a large paper clip to red hot. They took it very well that way- I was using powdered kmr and when reconstituted it is still rather clumpy, and would clog smaller holes (and sometimes that one).

Greeley, are you keeping them warm somehow?

That is horrible! Any luck finding a foster. We have one lady around here that works to help park ranger service. She hand raises all sorts of abandoned/orphaned small animals and then park rangers introduces them back to nature. Any possibility of someone in your area like that?

Wow. Thanks for all the advice and sympathy. I was, unfortunately, unable to save any of the little ones despite my best attempts and all your helpful advice. The story is getting a lot weirder as the hours tick by (you can read about at oregonlive.com), but it doesn't get any sadder.

Regards,

Aw, that is sad. (((Hugs)))

I hope they catch the monsters responsible for this.

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry That's just awful!

There is an ARBA Facebook page that would have been helpful in this situation, in case such a thing, God forbid, happens again.

I read the story; whats even more disgusting are some of the comments below it.. Its happened up here too, and the media and police always think its a big joke and don't care. If it was something like a car or some other piece of *crap* that we "need" in our lives then they would get right on it.. The police really need to start taking this type of "animal terrorism" way more seriously!!

I read the article and comments too. "No wonder they died- he obviously wasn't taking care of any of them!" Ummm... just where does the article state that this was a seizure due to neglect? They were stolen.