So this morning while heading out to the car, Husband found a small white bunny in the parking lot. The bun had his right rear leg out at a bad angle from his body. Husband was able to catch him and he’s currently chilling at our house, safe from dogs, coyotes, cars, raptors, etc.
He’s cute as a button, but we can’t keep him. I called around and talked to as many exotic animal vets as I could find, and it seems that it would be a minimum of $200 to have him seen/treated, which we can’t afford, especially for an animal that we’re not keeping.
Poor little hopper. Seems to be about half-grown.
There’s no blood and, other than the unnatural angle of the leg, no sign of injury. He doesn’t seem to be in pain - he lets Husband touch the wonky leg and doesn’t flinch about it - so we thought maybe he had just been born with it - but the leg seems to be strong and well-muscled, and if it were a birth defect it would have atrophied, right? It’s possible that it broke some time ago and has healed in position, maybe?
Tomorrow we’re going to contact a no-kill rabbit rescue group and see if they can take him. Hopefully he can find a home and lead a long and hoppy life.
I work for a Wildlife rescue whose focus is treating, rehabbing and returning wildlife to the wild.
If the bunny is all white, if is likely a domestic species and should go to a house rabbit organization. There are very few all white wild rabbit species. If it was born with the wonky leg, it has probably learned to use it, and such it would be muscular from use. If it is using the leg, it probably doesn’t have a recent injury. If it is not using the leg now, but as you say, has normal seeming muscle structure, it maybe dislocated or sprained.
If he is wild, it’s likely illegal for you to keep him (though most likely no one will find out or care). If he is someone’s pet, he may be missing and you should check with the local shelter. I volunteer at my local shelter, and they take all pets including rabbits, domestic doves and pigeons as well as the obvious dogs and cats.
Contacting the rabbit rescue is probably a good choice, but I would definitely check with animal control in case he’s microchipped (yes, we can microchip just about anything these days).
We had a couple of rabbits we couldn’t keep. Our local rabbit-rescue people never called us back. We ended up donating them to a retirement home, where they have a courtyard where they can run around and be “free.” The residents love them; they’d had rabbits before, but they died earlier in the year.
So far all the rabbit rescues we have been able to contact have been full. The good news is, one of them looked at the pictures we sent of the bun and said that the leg seems to be splayed (a congenital birth defect) rather than broken. So he’s not in pain, he’s just disabled.
We’re still calling around to try to find a rescue with room. In the meantime we’re making flyers to post in the neighborhood, and I’ve put word out on Facebook to see if anyone can take/foster his little hoppy self.
He’s definitely been someone’s pet. He loves being held and petted, and isn’t afraid of people at all.
We’re concerned about taking him to the shelter, because of the risk he’ll be put to sleep either immediately for being disabled or if he doesn’t find a home in time.
I called around and talked to as many exotic animal vets as I could find, and it seems that it would be a minimum of $200 to have him seen/treated, which we can’t afford, especially for an animal that we’re not keeping.