Licensed Georgia Wildlife Rehabilitor - Rhonda Woods
Located in the Auburn/Dacula Area of Gwinnett County
Member of NWRA, IWRC
Disclaimer about this release video. In this video I released 20 eastern cottontails back to the wild. This should not be a common practice to release so many rabbits in one area at one time due to the stress on a eco-system and for the safety of the rabbits. (once again, I prove that we can learn as we make innocent mistakes from not researching and asking questions from the more experienced and knowledgeable) Although this particular of land preserve is over 890 acres of woodlands and pastures, it is now close to its limit from other releases. Approximately 1 rabbit per 10 acres. With most rehabbed animals, it is common practice to try to release the rehabbed animal back to its original general location. With rabbits, this is not always an option that can be accomplished due to the situation from the rescue (cat/dog), so we look for large safe open pastures with lined woodlands.
My story...How it all began for me...
It was Good Friday and I was busy at work while my kids were enjoying their day off from school at my mother's house. My kids were outside playing catch with my mother's new puppy when the puppy stumbled into a nest of 1 day old cottontails. The puppy didn't know what to think of these tiny little critters but knew they needed a mother...which she decided she needed to be. The kids did their best to keep the puppy away but it was absolutely impossible. My mother and daughter feared for the safety of the babies and retrieved them. They put them in a bedding made from the nest and placed them on a warm hearing pad. My daughter then called me frantically at work and told me what happened and begged me to take care of them. I guess she thought that since I was her mother...I could be a mother to those tiny little critters also. What was I suppose to say?! I immediately scrambled and started researching and trying to find out any and everything I could about cottontails. All the information I got from the internet was so conflicting and at that point I hung my head low and said a prayer. I knew the chances of these little critters making it...well, I had to try to do my best until I could get a hold of an experienced wildlife rehabber that would be willing to take them for me. Luckily, I work at a pediatrician's office and was able to get my hands on syringes to use for feeding and my dear friend, Lori, taught me a trick on how to make a feeding nipple that she learned when she was working with premie babies. I got together all my supplies and planned to ONLY babysit them over the Easter weekend (I didn't want to bother anyone on a holiday weekend...if I only knew then what I know now) and on Monday I would start making phone calls to find a wildlife rehabber to help me...and these critters.
I started making calls first thing on Monday morning. I must have made over a dozen calls (so trust me, I know how ya'll feel trying to find someone to help). I was given another number of someone that might be able to help me. That was when I got to talk to Lynn, who has now become one of my closest and dearest friends. BUT...She was unable to take them for me because of trying to sell her house and the other cottontail rehabber, Linda, was having health issues. My heart sunk... What was I going to do? That's when Lynn started asking me some more questions about the little critters that I had in my possession. When she found out that I had had these guys for 4 days...and they were still alive and thriving...her voice became excited. She then asked me how I felt about finishing raising the little critters until they were ready to be released back into the wild. My heart felt as though it was going to leap out of my chest with excitement. I tried to keep my voice calm as I said, "sure, as long as she could teach me what I needed to know to make sure that I was doing the right thing for these critters". I got a crash course and continued raising them under the watchful eye of 2 of the finest Georgia cottontail rehabbers I know. They trained and taught me everything they could and I started making more contacts with other cottontail rehabbers in other states.
Because of my chance encounter (or maybe it was actually God' plan for my life) with those tiny little critters, the love and passion for the rabbits was un-locked inside me and I wanted...no...Needed to know any and everything I could about them. I still have a lot more to learn and will always keep trying to learn more. I will still at times of unsurenss, go to others for guidance and advice on certain cases that are complicated.
After all my research and education... I have learned one thing for sure...
sometimes it takes lots of rehabbers to raise just one little baby cottontail rabbit.
