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abandoned domestic rabbits in the neighbourhood

22 10:01:15

Question
Hello,

I live in a secured small complex of townhouses and about 6 months ago I started to notice a couple of fluffy rabbits hanging around in the neighbourhood. I first thought they're wild rabbits who somehow managed to get inside the complex so I didn't want to intrude (I didn't know the difference then!) I often saw them eat weed and grass.

After a month or two, they started to become friendly and would eat apples from my hand which made me doubt they're wild.
Recently a neighbour told me they came from a house nearby our complex. The owner had to move and abandoned the rabbits. So they're definitely domestics.
I notice a few of my neighbours occasionally leave food for them. My next door neighbour even built a small 'nest' for them out of what looked like either a cardboard or wooden box with hay bedding but I've never seen them stayed in there. When it rains, they usually sit near someone's garage or front door.

About a week or two ago, one of them saw me walking and s/he followed me. I didn't have any food with me so I just petted him/her.

Two days ago, I came home around 11 PM and saw them hanging outside my garage door and when they saw me, they followed me. I gave them some peach and they ate it joyfully. They ate about 4 thin slices each before refusing to eat anymore.

Yesterday I got rabbits food from the petstore and a twin bowl. When I got home I looked for them but couldn't find them so I walked back to my house but as soon as I reached the door, they came out of nowhere. I took the bowl to them and they ate happily. They ate so much I had to refill the bowl. So now I make sure I leave enough food for them outside my house.

I can't really take the rabbits inside as I have a small house and I suffer from pollen allergies.

What else can I do to make them more comfortable without taking them inside?
I live in Australia and winter is coming soon. Winter is generally pretty mild here but it can get as cold as 5 degrees Celsius at night (no snow), is there anything I can do to make sure they have somewhere to keep warm?

Should I get them a cage with roof and put it outside so they can rest there when it rains? what sort of cage do you recommend? I only have tiny front yard so obviously it can't be too big. And how do I let them know it's theirs?

Answer
Hi,

first God bless you for taking care of these domestic rabbits, they have no natural instincts and need people to take care of them.

Best thing to do is if you have a backyard that's fenced in, to get them staying in your backyard and get the outdoor hutch for them, if you can't take them inside.  You need to be able to get them up and lock them in at night, for their safety.  You also don't want anything OTHER than the rabbits in there thinking it's a place for them, or waiting for the rabbits.

IN the end the best place for domestics are inside.  I would start contacting two main groups that might be able to help you out and actually may come to pick up the rabbits, get them medical care, fixed, and adopt out to forever homes. They are:

House Rabbit Society of Australia
http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/pam.htm

Australian Companion Rabbit Society
http:/companionrabbit.cjb.net

If you can contact one or both, one or both may have members in the area to help take the abandoned bunnies in, get them cared for by rabbit vets, socialized, and adopted out.  Please consider contacting them and chances are they will help.  These are not wild rabbits but domestics that require people to take care of them.  Do this before the winter arises.  If you have lettuce (green leafy, not iceberg) you can give them some pieces to eat as well.  But the best thing is to get them into safe spaces and then keep them safe until you can get help.  Even if you have cages inside your garage it will be safer than outside.  But if you do this you'll need to get them timothy hay to eat as right now they are grass grazers.  You need to try to keep them in your backyard or even safer areas because they are extremely easy pickings for predators and they will get run over by cars.  So please consider cages in the garage temporarily while waiting for House Rabbit groups to come to assist you in saving as many of these as possible.

God bless you again, for taking care of these little ones.  They will love you for doing so.  God loves His animals and taking care of abandoned domestic animals shows our love for His animals who have been bred to be docile for us, and what do we do?  we abandon them.  thanks for making their problem your problem.  You aren't alone, the House Rabbit people will help you.