Poor bun :( I bet it was so exhausted, stressed, and scared, little thing could have had a heart attack. Hiding behind the skateboard was pretty cute though. I love wild bunnies and wish they had a better chance at life! Thanks to this kind dude for helping it.
Just last week my dog was making his usual nightly rounds checking the perimeter of the home (rural area surrounded by fields). He doesn’t chase rabbits or small animals.
He brought up an injured rabbit and carefully laid it down right in front of the door. I thought it was dead but it was alive, super scared. My dog left it alone and just gave it a few sniffs and kept watch as I went to get my animal carrier out and placed bunny in there. Sprayed some pet antiseptic spray on a wound, set it in the shed, and expected to find it dead the next morning.
But next morning little guy was sitting up and looking chipper. Let him out in the field and he hopped away.
I was so proud of my doggo though. He had never done anything like that before and knew the bunny needed help.
My last dog would collect babby rabbits and lay with them like she thought they were puppies, I always had to go and return them to their spots. My current one hasnt discovered any rabbits yet, but did bring me a litter of kittens
Dogs are incredible. They’re also bred for a cluster of genetic traits that in humans tracks with a specific severe form of developmental delay that has reduced intelligence + massively inflated affection. That part makes me sad.
Williams-Beuren syndrome is a disorder that in humans produces developmental delay and increased affection. It maps to specific genetic defects that dogs have been bred for (dogs, but not wild canids).
I have had the most awesome pet bunnies in the past but I no longer keep them because they have a heartbreaking habit of suddenly dropping dead 😭
Wild bunnies are adorable but honestly, I regard them as made to be eaten. That is their purpose on Earth, to be the bridge in the food chain between plant and meat. That’s why they breed so fast and put so little effort into raising their young (feed them 2x a day).
True on both. My last rabbit died around 5yrs after sudden convulsions one evening. Its nice being able to compost their entire litter box and feed them garden scraps, but they also make a great protein source for a farm
Ive had pet rabbits, they make surprisingly good house pets, but i usually see a wild rabbit and just think of it as a wild animal, I do try to give them a good spot to live in the garden though. Wild ones are just quite weak and die easily. They literally just have their hearts explode from stress.
One thing I always wonder with these videos is if these wild animals ever realize they've been helped or if they think they manage to escape a trap. I know that it doesn't really matter as long as they're free, and "thankfulness" is probably a mostly human emotion (even though cats and dogs do show their appreciation), but it's always intriguing to know if scientists will ever be able to map out their neurological signals and translate it into language, even if their brains are a fraction of ours.
I think in most cases when wild animals let people put their hands on them in these situations, especially prey animals, it’s more of a “submit to the predator” behaviour because they are so terrified. Basically they go into shock after they cannot handle running and panicking anymore.
Yeah, it was one very stressed bun the entire time. So many people think that just because you are now petting the animal it means it has accepted you. No, it means it's exhausted and is now exercising the Fawn option of Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn.
Bro I'm sorry it happened to you, hopefully you're doing better? Kind words deserve kindness in return. I appreciate your positivity towards others in fairly non positive times.
As a gay man, I turned fawning into a life hack code that helps me to get what I want in any situation or helping to have more options than just a straight kill and/or ass whooping coming toward me lol.
A lot of abuse/assault victims get their heads twisted up about it because in the moment, even though they were really uncomfortable or scared, they didn't just freeze but fawned over the person who scared them. Became welcoming to them.
Like it's proof that they shouldn't have been scared, when it's more of a "If I maybe give this scary person what they seem to want, they won't get as angry or violent and I can slip away later." strategy.
That tends to be what happens whenever you see an abusive person explode unfairly, and then their victim kicks into overdrive to soothe and serve or pamper them. Fawn response.
From the rabbit's point of view, it is Sigourney Weaver and the human picking it up is that Alien that opens its big mouth and another little head comes out of it and opens its mouth. In that scene Sigourney isn't standing there motionless because she's relaxed. She's standing there because she hasn't figured out where the hell she can run.
The whole time I was thinking - either provide it a way to climb out on its own or throw a jacket over it. Bare-handing it like that can end in ways that are just not worth it at all.
I essentially agree with what you are saying. The rabbit was terrified and exhausted, no question.
But I can’t help but wonder. Have they/scientists ever specifically studied how that stress affects the animal after the encounter? I’ve heard from rabbit owners that they are very sensitive to stress and can die from high stress levels alone. I have to evidence to make me think that is incorrect. But on the other hand, it’s hard to imagine that rabbit in the video running free, then later in the day dying due to the prolonged stress alone.
Kindest thing would be to throw a shirt over it, grab it firmly, and chuck it out of the park asap. Following it and harassing it is more stressful than one slightly rough but fast intervention.
Yeah it was definitely in the "Make it quick" stage. Humans are different than the typical hunting predator, we do "pursuit" chasing. We're not especially fast, so rather than expend a ton of energy with sprinting, we follow at a jog, and the animal that's sprinting away eventually tires out enough that it literally cant move anymore.
I do the same thing with my cat when she wants to play chase, I'll leisurely walk around the house while she completely tuckers herself out, eventually I can just walk up to her and pick her up lol.
It’s the only way. We have a game outside with our cats where they will run from one end of the garden between our legs and into the house. All we have to do is catch them. We’ve never managed it. We can get hands on them but momentum carries them through and it’s like trying to catch jelly in your hands.
They think it’s hilarious. Silly slow humans.
We have to wear them down. But then this poor bunny is probably so exhausted it may not be able to get somewhere safe to recover.
I know it would have been inconvenient to obtain, but probably the least traumatic thing for the rabbit would have been to place a long plank at the shortest wall of the "skateboard pit" and either let the rabbit figure it out, or leave a trail of rabbit food on the plank to draw the rabbit to it.
i remember watching this video a bit back on youtube that tried to answer this exact question with established research and known animal psychology. the most agreed upon interpretation is they do after a point understand they are being helped. there are different cues they take from
humans in particular when we are approaching a trapped animal, we don't approach in any way that a predator normally would at all, we keep our eyes locked, approach with slow deliberate caution, and a sense of gentle patience etc. there is a clear separate pattern that tells them we aren't there to take advantage of their situation.
the animals kind of go into this locked in mode where they freeze. not out of fear, but to submit to the aid even for just a little bit. humans aren't the only species known to help other species. it absolutely makes sense that we are all programmed in a way to respond to another animal that is just trying to help us get untrapped from something or from some other danger.
people always say don't anthropomorphize animals and junk, but we genuinely have so much farther to go when it comes to understanding the complexity of every living beings lived experience. i genuinely do not think it is outside of the realm of possibility that a little rabbit could understand that a person is just trying to help it
Totally agree with your last paragraph. I've watched the goalposts move on what differentiates human intelligence from other species several times in my life. Tool use? Lots of animals use tools. Okay, what about making tools? Several primates, some birds, shape natural materials into tools. Speech? Gorillas can do pretty complex sign language, other animals like dolphins and whales have whole separate dialects of signals. Sense of self? Interesting experiments with mirrors show lots of animals recognize that a mark on their face in the mirror means a mark on themselves.
So yeah, an advanced animal like a rabbit being able to understand that they were actually saved instead of getting lucky doesn't seem that crazy.
Of course domestic rabbits react to humans differently (and the species is different, this is a US cottontail not the European rabbit I think?). But living with one, I find they're actually particularly inclined to ask humans for stuff, once they trust you. They're an intensely social species -the cottontails are much less so so this behaviour is perhaps less intuitive for them-, with a complex somewhat flexible sense of hierarchy. My own doe is exceptionally dominant, meaning I'd better socially groom her or else (have had the scars to show for this lesson since she initially just assumed I didn't already know it, but my rabbits are always assertive does!). But I still get licks as a reward for being the one who can reach the fresh veg down...ah, excuse me, literally just got honked at then licked, more veg time.
I had a wild rabbit that loved to chill in my back yard all summer. Of all the wild rabbit's I've ever met, it was the most chill and was barely afraid of me (which made me nervous that it would be an easy target for a predator). At least 50 times this year, I'd go out to check on my garden and not notice this rabbit until I was within 3 feet of it. And all it would do was hop a foot away from me, stand still for a few seconds, and then flop back on the grass and chew on a clover like it was slurping up a long spaghetti noodle. I could be talking loudly to my husband, and it would not care at all until we accidentally got within it's 3 foot bubble. I'd leave it scrap lettuce leaves under the bush in our flowerbed where it liked to hangout when it was out exploring (I didn't want to make it like humans more than he already seemed to).
I don't know why I'm sharing this, but your comment just made me think of "my" bunny who I hope is doing well this fall lol
A fascinating tidbit about animal language: weve taught great apes to communicate using sign language, but one major difference is that they've never demonstrated the ability to ask questions the way humans do. We arnt sure, but that might be the biggest hurdle in intelligence, is the ability ask questions and access information that you know you wouldnt have.
One time a baby bird was falling out of its nest and only hanging by a piece of yarn or something attached to its foot. Literally hundreds of birds got on the roof next door and chirped frantically AT ME clearly wanting me to help the baby bird, which I did. I'll never forget how all these birds came to me for aid and I was able to help.
Have you had a lot of contact with those birds before, or do you think they’d have done that to anyone who happened to be around? Have you noticed any difference in your relationship with the birds since?
Not him, but I have a similar experience with blackbirds living in the hedges around my house.
When I cut the grass, the blackbirds often follow my lawnmower at a distance looking for unhearted insects and earthworms. Blackbirds are naturally very shy animals and try to not be seen, but over time they gained some confidence and got closer to me while mowing. They know the path I take and never stay in front of the lawnmower. I started sometimes leaving some seeds under the hedges too.
One time while cutting, I found a very small yellow balloon right on the path of my lawnmower, that wasn't there a minute before. I am sure that a blackbird left it as a gift.
“Imagination” might be too broad/nebulous but it feels like a good word to describe the difference for human intelligence.
Being able to create something entirely new in your head and either searching for it in the real world or creating it. I’m sure all animals have this to some extent though, I’m sure searching for food and avoiding predators requires a little imagination
Bumblebees use tools too, and they can learn from bees. One woman who jad studied bumblebees for a decade or two, was absolutely certain that they play. For fun.
Well I just saved both of those videos to my "Watch Later" list. The intention is to put them on when I go to bed and probably fall asleep to the longer one but I wouldn't be surprised if I totally forget about them until like a year from now lol
I did break it down into "watch later reference, watch later long format, watch later fashion, & move stuff all around until I got down to 3-4 thousand on the main list
I feel like people forget that we evolved all these traits too and didnt develop them in a vaccuum. Humans are pretty late to the game and being able to care and offer aid definitely exists in nature
I saved a young pigeon from a cat once and she’d frequently visit me on my porch and let me pet her.
I also rescued a squirrel with a head injury and, once she recovered enough to move, she’d gently take my finger between her teeth to move my hand away from her when she was finished taking water/food from the feeding syringe.
This rabbit is dangerously stressed though.
Scientists have documented complex language in animals and even species that have multiple languages and dialects depending on location; like orcas.
Rabbits can freak out and break their own spines, and you need to support their home legs when you lift them. The rabbit could have kicked and fucked himself and the guy up horribly. Bunny kicks are no joke.
A good deed and a lucky outcome, but it's gone wrong before statistically
Pretty sure when the guy was holding the bunny, it thought it was dead. That's why it didn't take off right away. Small animals apparently have this thing where they rather not die of stress, and just give in when there is no way out. Then there are the committed ones who try and try, and try, and they eventually kill themselves from heart attack, or manage to leave a foot behind and somehow keep living.
I saved a hummingbird that was stuck on my back porch and 20 mins later it came back and hovered 2 ft in front of my face for a few seconds while I was watering my plants. I like to think it was checking me out and saying thank you
Probably not for almost all animal, some do, birds, smarter animals like orcas, elephants. Some just submit, get tired or don't have any other choice. I don't even think dogs do, they understand that hey, this human just lifted me from this place to other and now they're not holding me so I can leave and sometimes they strach and feel safe after, but during it's usually just not happening. Also stop with the petting, unless it's domesticated animal it will just think they predator is playing with it, rarely any wild animal will feels safe from that.
I think this bunny probably thinks it “got away” but maybe if the guy had just picked it up, put it at the top, and left it alone it might know it hadn’t been attacked.”
Okay but honestly this is bringing light to the fact that so many spaces are traps for animals (pools as another example) and their ability to get out of spaces should be taken into consideration.
Use mine religiously- have found all kinds of creatures sunning themselves on it too, lol. Not one drowned mouse or chipmunk all summer, so frog log for the win!
How cute! Our turning point was finding a dead bandicoot in the skimmer box. So distressing and we felt awful. No more dead animals with the frog logs … yay!
My son likes to go to the skatepark and roll his toy monster trucks into the bowls (we go early and leave if people are there). Last time I spent thirty minutes scooping up 50 or so wolf spiders (and their gazillion babies). Now I see this and totally agree with your point.
In the future, if you want an effective way to get mama wolf spiders from point A to point B safely and easily (without mama feeling the need to get very protective and bitey), find something that has a corner or covered space that blocks light (think something similar to the shape of those pointy water cooler cups in general) and lay it in mama's path.
They're hard-coded to look for small, shaded places for safety. It's very reminiscent of a toddler's "if I can't see you, you can't see me," and mama will go into it thinking she and her babies are safe.
Source: I raise several species of spiders, including the Hogna genus, which are wolfies.
all the pools around here have small ramps in them, even in the winter, and most of the people use non-blue pool covers so that if wildlife falls in, they have a way out.
It's also honestly bringing to light the fact that we've had skate parks since the '80s and rabbits have been falling in them for 40 years now. It's not a problem if you use two hands and don't chase the thing until it's basically giving up from exhaustion. It was so tired that even once it was out of the bowl it could barely run and did this hero give some water? Na. More phone angles!
At least where I live, every pool legally has to be fenced in to prevent children and also animals from falling in, and the vast majority of skate parks don't have entirely enclosed bowls like this. They usually have an outlet of some kind to prevent water, trash and animals from pooling inside. You could call this a design flaw but really this all could have been fixed in about 30 seconds without running the rabbit down to exhaustion. Also, the alternative is to fencing the skatepark, but I'm not sure that's a better option for wildlife to keep fencing in the land we've already stolen from them; I think it's better to just leave it open and deal with the occasional animal that falls in.
Also if you find yourself in this position, generally speaking, put the skateboard near the edge so that way the bunny is already taking shelter in between the bowl lip and the skateboard so it's safer for the rabbit and easier for you to grab .
Would have been a lot easier and safer for both of them to have both hands the first time he tried to pick the bunny up ... those back legs can do serious injury to both him *and* the bunny.
I applaud him for trying to help, but ffs put the phone down.
Right. Film good deeds, happy moments, etc , and SHARE THEM! I need to see good things every once in a while because being a social worker sucks the hope outta you most days. Heaven forbid, I take a 10 min lunch break to smile at videos of people laughing or helping or caring for their neighbors. I don’t care if you think he’s not helping “the right way”. He helped. Damn.
Or maybe it was an interesting incident he wanted to share? Or maybe recording oneself doing a nice act doesn't necessarily mean thryre virtue signaling? Or maybe even if they are it says nothing negative about their character like everyone likes to imply? Or maybe even I'd it does so tf what? Cut people some slack, we all have good and bad qualities, like whoopdeedo
Former rabbit owner here, also would have helped if they didn't try to pick it up the same way a eagle would snatch them. Supposed to pick up from under the belly and brace their back legs so they don't accidentally kick and break their back.
Yeah I had similar thoughts but truth is this guy showed incredible patience and kindness. It is not easy to get to this point with a wild animal where you can just pick it up, he could have just gone off and skated something else and just left the rabbit to die there but instead he stayed and did the right thing. If filming it encourages other people to do the same then it's good. Plus it's genuinely interesting watching him go through the process of winning the rabbit's trust. I would have gotten so frustrated
I see the point you're making, but he doesn't "earn the rabbit's trust," he exhausts it until he can pick it up. Hope the little guy did alright after it got out.
This isn’t trust though. The rabbit is so exhausted and terrified that it cannot move. It’s visibly trembling and its heart is racing. It pushes its belly onto the ground in a desperate attempt at camouflage. This is the body language of a rabbit in mortal terror with no way of escape.
Maybe if he put the camera down and didn’t chase it around for ages then he could have quickly grabbed it and released it while causing minimal stress. Rabbits can quite literally die from fright and shock. His priority was getting “virtuous” clips of himself saving a rabbit for social media, not about actually saving the rabbit.
It is not easy to get to this point with a wild animal where you can just pick it up
I mean, it is pretty easy when you unnecessarily draw the process out over a long period of time like this until it's too exhausted to run and way more stressed out instead of just picking the darn thing up.
It definitely wasn’t comfortable with him, it was just too exhausted to keep running. He’s lowered its survival chance by waiting for it to exhaust itself to the point it was able to be picked up instead of rigging a way to get it out before it was completely worn out
Oh totally. That poor bunny was exhausted and scared to death , but there probably wasn’t a whole lot of options for rigging up something to get him out. As someone who frequents public skateparks, most things are bolted down and in a bowl like that you can be dealing with completely smooth vertical walls or worse and the pool coping is not gonna make life any easier. Maybe if he had some buddies they could have hooked together some boards? All I know is is difficult for my old ass to get out sometimes lol
You're right! They need to invent a damn portable drone that makes low noise that's built into your phone so that when you need both hands but have to get the shot, you can just turn on drone mode and help better.
I have a pet rabbit. She hates being picked up regardless of how many hands you use and their claws are very sharp. She tears my hands/arms up pretty bad if she starts kicking when I pick her up
Sure but have you ever tried picking her up with just one hand and dropping her on the ground a few times?
Using two hands right from the get go would have been massively more effective, just glad he eventually he gave up the anticipated insta glory and got it done.
Had a rabbit down in a window well once, I put a 5 gallon bucket on its side, up next to one of the walls, to give it somewhere to hide from me, then it walked right in. I covered the bucket with a towel and lifted it out.
The point is avoiding prolonged stress. An animal in this situation is going to panic no matter what, and that stress can destroy it internally more and more the longer it’s allowed to fester.
When you startle and stress out rabbits like this, they might straight up just die from a heart attack.
Just as an FYI, if you can, just put something they can climb into the hole, like a plank of wood to make a ramp. Then the animal can get itself out.
Obviously, if you don’t have anything available, picking up the rabbit is the second best option. No shade to this guy, just putting it out there in case you ever find a rabbit stuck in a pit.
Grates on the ground or buildings made of glass are a perfect examples of things humans make that don’t even consider wildlife as a factor. What about high speed roads that aren’t sectioned off so animals can just walk right into them? Just so fucking arrogant to think we should be designing only for humanity.
EDIT AGAIN: PEOPLE ARE BLOWING UP MY INBOX WITHOUT READING MY EDIT.
I UNDERSTAND NOT TO SCRUFF A WILD RABBIT AFTER SOMEONE TOLD ME WHY AND UPDATED THE COMMENT TO REFLECT THAT. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE COMMENT BEFORE REPLYING. I RECCOMEND THE BLANKET METHOD INSTEAD. I EDITED MY COMMENT TO REFLECT THIS SEVERAL HOURS AGO.
If anyone is in a situation like this in the future please give the rabbit more space to calm down on its own. Rabbits are prone to heart attacks and can die from fright.
A rabbit can be scruffed just like a cat. That would have made this rescue so much faster and less stressful for the rabbit.
Rabbit bites hurt really really bad. I would not touch a wild rabbit except to scruff it in a situation like this.
Edit: I never had an issue scruffing a rabbit (I was in 4H as a kid and had 2 pet rabbits, and that’s what the breeders always did) but another user said they can flail and injure their spine and shouldn’t be scruffed, so I will do some more research but also take their word for it. I reccomend instead the technique of throwing a blanket or jacket over it.
I had a couple pet rabbits that ended up living about 10 years. I can vouch that rabbit bites hurt.
When we introduced our second young rabbit to our first, she attacked it. When I separated them (the adult rabbit picked up the young one and shook him like a dog killing something), the full grown bunny bit me in the shin.
It sounded like someone slamming into a Slim Jim with a very loud POP when her teeth snapped through my leg meat. Bled like crazy and had a massive bruise around the bite for several weeks.
Ever since that incident, I’ve been a little gun shy to handle any rabbits. Their teeth are no joke.
had similar from a rat. Should've paid attention to the saying, "flight like a cornered rat". my cat had brought it in and i didn't care to let her kill it in my room, so i trapped it in my bathroom and reached out to grab it.
it sunk its teeth in to the bone in my ring finger, and just locked its jaws like that. i tried to take my hand away and lifted the entire rodent. it just held like that for about 5 minutes.
at that point i was in no shape to secure it, i just let it free until i could function again. i did manage to trick it into a cat carrier finally, let it go in a nearby paddock the next morning. it did binkies as it ran away, which I've never seen a rat do.
happy outcome overall, but definite lesson learned.
When I was a very young kid I found a bunch of baby rabbits in our backyard and of course being a dumb little girl I tried to pet one. That little dude turned around and bit the SHIT out of me. Learned a very valuable childhood lesson about leaving young prey animals alone and not messing with them because they're cute.
Vet tech for 20 years here. Never had an issue scuffing a rabbit. But we usually turn them upside down after we scruff so they don’t flail. But I’ve never had a rabbit have an issue with scuffing.
Yeah, you really shouldn't scruff wild rabbits. Rabbits have extremely fragile skeletons and powerful back legs. If they kick with unsupported hindquarters (which they almost certainly will do) while dangling from their scruff, they can dislocate their lower back which is basically a death sentence.
If you absolutely must pick up a wild rabbit, you should cover it with a towel, make sure you support it's back legs and hug it tightly against your body. FYI, covering is the move for almost all wild animals that fit under a towel.
You actually should not scruff a rabbit ever, you can break its back and likely will if they struggle. How this is top comment without anyone calling you out on that is bewildering. Everything else is sort of right except this rabbit never calmed down. He was just overheated and could not keep running anymore.
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u/Bizarrebazaars 4d ago
Poor bun :( I bet it was so exhausted, stressed, and scared, little thing could have had a heart attack. Hiding behind the skateboard was pretty cute though. I love wild bunnies and wish they had a better chance at life! Thanks to this kind dude for helping it.