Wild rabbit with bad legs

Question
My children found a hole in our backyard containing four baby wild rabbits.  One of the babies appears to have no use of its back legs.  He just wiggles along to get around, while the other babies all move normally.  What can be done to help the crippled rabbit?  Is it better to euthanize him to put him out of his misery? Or will he grow out of it and function normally one day?  I've already told my children that we weren't keeping the rabbits as pets.

Answer
Dear Shane,

It's impossible to know whether the baby will improve.  He might have suffered a soft-tissue injury that will heal, or your children might have accidentally injured him in a more serious way by handling him incorrectly.  (Wild rabbits should never be handled, and any nest should be left strictly alone, as I'm sure you've told your children by now.)

If you would like to see if the baby's injury is treatable, you could take him to a rabbit vet for examination and recommendations:

www.rabbit.org/vets

but without seeing the baby in person and getting an idea of what might be wrong, I cannot recommend what course of action for you to take.  This should be done by a veterinarian who can personally examine the rabbit.

I hope this helps.

Dana