a Bunny question

Ha, ha!! Do you mean the cats?? lol

That does seem a bit more likely than a cat or a coyote letting a rabbit go with just a few ear serrations. Or a rabbit actually escaping a predator to live another day.

I had a cat that wandered into my yard from god-knows-where, she killed all manner of fauna. Birds, baby bunnies, squirrels, snakes. You name it she drug it up on the deck. She never ate them, as she was very fond of the canned cat Food I gave her. I finally got my hands on her and took to the vet, and found her a foster home. She’s a spoiled house cat now, with a sketchy past. So cats can and will kill rabbits.

Cats, coyotes, dogs, etc that get hold of a rabbit result in a dead bunny, if not immediately, then soon after. A cat’s oral cavity is awash in bacteria that are deadly to rabbits. The pictures all show the results of rabbit-rabbit interaction.

I agree. Bunny to bunny seems most likely. That had not even entered my head when this thread started, but it makes perfectly good sense.

Well, at least something drew you out of 6 years of lurking. :slight_smile:

I had a puppy with ears like that. Rose bushes.

My husband pack of hunting beagles get torn ears running through underbrush. I have to treat them after hunting is over. Those dogs don’t care a bit, they could be bleeding profusely and keep on the chase.

Ha, ha!

I actually posted here from almost the beginning of this board, under a different name. Then, when I began my own message board I got pre-occupied with it and just didn’t come here. Six years ago I thought I should look in on you. Since my first name here was dumb and I also no longer had that email, I made a new name that is the name everyone calls me for real. Then I got busy again and did not come back. So I have not lurked. I have thought about these bunnies for a long time and then I thought, I know who would know the answer! Straight Dope! And so I came back. I hope that I keep coming. I was originally PurplePerson. Now, I will probably spend the day looking up my old posts. From what I am reading, I asked a lot questions. In the end, I actually quit picture framing altogether. I was already also a piano teacher and after quitting at the picture frame shop, I only taught piano lessons and took in my elderly mother and cared for her until her death a few years ago. And yes! I always paid taxes on my piano income. I am working on retiring altogether now.

There are a bunch of blackberry bushes here. They could get torn up on them.

Feral rabbits also tend to have fleas, and often ear mites. These itch, and the rabbits will try very hard to scratch their ears. And their hind claws can do damage to ears.

Rabbits seem pretty immune to thorns. My daughter’s domestic rabbits love nothing more than chewing down on bramble branches, thorns and all.

I sort of have a bunny question, but I don’t expect an answer.

This morning on the way to work I saw something in the road which I couldn’t immediately identify, so I swerved around it. As I did so, I realized it was a bunny, sitting up with his back to me. He didn’t move as the car passed, or for as long as I could see him in my rearview mirror. I wouldn’t think a hurt or dead rabbit would sit up like that, right? I hope he was okay.

Oh that poor bunny! Maybe he is deaf. If he keeps sitting in the road he will not live long.

Maybe he was stunned.

Huh. Were there crows around? They’ll usually warn the rabbits. You’ve probably heard them yelling, “Caw, Caw, Caw”.

Boo, hiss!

Well, my husband traveled that same road not long after I did and he didn’t see any dead bunnies. Apparently I was just being snubbed by a rabbit with nerves of steel.

If the OP lives in the US, then note that rabbits in North America do not live in warren systems like the European/British rabbits of Watership Down. Cottontails live more or less alone and repurpose abandoned burrows from other animals for raising their young, or else create shallow scrapes above ground.

They are, however, territorial so I wouldn’t rule out rabbit-on-rabbit combat entirely. But I wouldn’t assume it’s the case based on a fictional work about European rabbits either.

Born and bred in a briar patch, Brer Fox! Born and bred in a briar patch!

I know the little SOBs need to quit eating my greens. If they start on my tomato plants we will be eating rabbit stew.