I think I killed baby rabbits in my backyard...?

Question

I feel so horrible right now... A rabbit that hangs around our house a lot had 3 babies in my backyard. I read somewhere online that you can pick up the babies and handle them to make sure they are being fed so that's what I did about 3 days after they were born..I just went to check on them today and all three of them are dead..I would appreciate if anyone could tell me that it's not my fault that they died and this just happens naturally..

Answer 1

unless the rabbit was tame, and even then you probably shouldn't have touched them, but what's done is done. I don't think you could have killed them by touching them.

The only thing i can think of is your scent might have freaked the mother out and she might have aboandoned them, but that sort of thing doesn't usually happen with rabbits, only birds. Don't be too hard on yourself.

If the mother wasn't there when you picked them up it could be that she had already left. Of if they looked hurt, then some other animal probably got them.

What's done is done, it seems unlikely it was your fault

give em' i nice barial.

Answer 2

You did.

Sorry, but you should never interfere with wildlife.  

Answer 3

You cannot touch a baby wild animal for the first few weeks of its life, or the mother will reject it and it will die.

Sometimes, this is even true with pets, unless the mother REALLY trusts you.

For example, I used to have pet mice, and the mother loved and trusted me, and she permitted me to touch and hold her babies within a day or two of their birth.  However, if a stranger would have touched my mouse's babies, she would have killed them because she wouldn't recognize the scent of the stranger.

Answer 4

Contrary to what many people believe, rabbits do not reject their young because of their scent. That is a proven  fact, chack the website below.

You should leave wild life alone, but I appreciate your concern. next time just block the entrance of the hole with a stick or something like that, so if within 24 hours it has been moved, then that means the mother is attending to the babies and they will be alright.

Unfortunatelly, there are many disease out there that could have killed the babies, or simply the mother might have been killed and never came back.

Rabits are also territorrial and will usually live in the same burrow for good. So if the mother does not come back, that means it was definetaly not your fault.

Answer 5

If you read that they can be picked up at a young age, then you should have read that if you do pick them up at a young age then the mom will not feed them. For some reason, mother animals do not want anything to do with their babies if another scent is on them. So the best thing for you to do would be to bury the babies and do just that. Dont try to fix up the nest in any way or another. And hope that the mom will come back and have more bunnies. Next time, look but don't touch.

-kenesha

Answer 6

if its a wild rabbit your scent on the babies will have worried the mum, and she will have killed them. sorry but you should have left them alone.

Answer 7

you should always leave wildlife alone.

Answer 8

Just let them be. :]

Don't trust online, if you touch her babies and in return will make them not smell like her..she will eat them.

Answer 9

perhaps a hug will make you feel better.

*hug*

Answer 10

Is the mother bunny still around?

I think that if you touched them their mother smelled you and maybe didn't go back to them, or perhaps she died somewhere, and the babies weren't being fed.