What to do if you find an injured or orphaned bunny or rabbit in North Carolina

Help! I found a baby bunny! Do this FIRST!

If you have found a bunny, especially a baby, stay calm, keep your distance, and minimize stress. Although our local Eastern Cottontail rabbits are very adorable, they DO NOT make good pets. It is important to not take these babies out of the wild unnecessarily, or as we call it “rob the nest”

What to do RIGHT NOW:

Contact us IMMEDIATELY! Call or text CWCC right away at 980-389-1133 (leave a voicemail or text a photo for a faster response).
DO NOT FEED OR GIVE WATER.
Keep a distance and keep pets, people, and loud noises away.
Place the animal in a dark, quiet, ventilated box (only if explicitly instructed to do so by our hotline).
Keep them warm and dry.
Limit noise and handling, bunnies are prey animals and are highly susceptible to stress-related shock or sudden death.
Always wear gloves and use a towel if handling is necessary. This protects you from wild parasites and protects the rabbit from injuring its own fragile spine if it thrashes.
Adult wild rabbits will panic when handled. Cover their eyes gently with a cloth immediately to reduce their vision, if they cannot see you, their heart rate will drop and they are less likely to go into fatal shock.

What NOT to do:

Do NOT feed the bunny – improper feeding or formula can lead to severe bloat, diarrhea, aspiration, or death.
Do NOT give water.
Do NOT try to care for them overnight or keep them as pets. Eastern Cottontails do not survive well in captivity without expert care.
Do NOT handle them excessively. Keep children, dogs, and cats completely away.

Getting the animal to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator as quickly as possible is critical to giving them the best chance at survival and eventual release back into the wild.

When does a bunny need help?

It is incredibly common to find a nest of baby bunnies with no mother in sight. Do not panic! Mother cottontails do not stay near the nest during the day to avoid drawing predators to her babies. She is crepuscular, meaning she only returns to the nest to feed them twice a day, once at dawn and once at dusk.

However, a bunny or a nest does require immediate emergency care if:

They have been in a dog or cat's mouth (they need antibiotics immediately, even if you cannot see any visible injuries).
The nest has been flooded or entirely destroyed.
The babies look wrinkled, skinny, dehydrated, or have a sunken belly.
They are cold, lethargic, or unresponsive.
They are covered in ants, flies, or crawling bugs.
The mother is 100% known to be deceased.

Please refer to the images below to gauge the status of the bunny while you wait for our response.

Weak Eyed Baby

Needs Help

The String Test

If you stumble upon a nest that has been slightly disturbed, simply put the natural materials (grass clippings and mom’s warm underbelly fur) back over the babies. The String Test is an easy way to tell if momma rabbit is coming back. Please note, it is not always 100% accurate. Placing a camera on the nest is the best way to know if she is returning but if that isn't available, the string test is helpful.

To check if the mother is still caring for them, place thin pieces of string, yarn, or twigs in a tic-tac-toe pattern over the top of the nest, or you can spread baking powder around the nest to check for tracks. Check the nest after the next dawn or dusk. If the strings have been moved or pushed aside, mom has returned to feed them! If they remain completely undisturbed after 24 hours, contact us right away.

If you have any questions, please send us a photo of the baby's backs and bellies for full assessment.

String test to see if momma rabbit is coming back

Important safety information:

Bunnies are high-stress animals. Excessive noise, handling, or looking at them can cause a fatal condition called capture myopathy. Keep them in a dark, warm, and completely quiet environment.
Watch out for powerful kicks. Adult rabbits have incredibly strong hind legs and will kick defensively if they feel threatened, which can cause severe injury to both you and the rabbit's own spine.
Always use a towel and gloves. If you must contain an injured adult or a compromised baby, use a thick towel to gently cover and secure them, protecting your hands and minimizing their vision to lower stress.
Place them into a secure, well-ventilated cardboard box lined with a soft cloth.

A rabbit nest in your yard?

How to protect a rabbit's nest from dogs

Our goal is always to keep healthy baby animals with their healthy mother. We do not want to remove babies from their mother if at all possible. Dogs commonly find rabbit nests in the backyard and homeowners become concerned for the safety of the babies. A simple way to keep the babies safe is through the laundry basket trick. Simply cut an adult rabbit sized hole in the side of the basket and place it over the nest and weigh it down. Rabbits typically stay in the nest until four weeks of age so they should be on their way soon.

What happens after you call?

Our dedicated hotline team of highly trained professionals will help you assess the situation. We will ask you to text us photos of the babies' backs and bellies so we can quickly evaluate their health and hydration.

1

We will guide you along the way and provide expert advice. You are NOT expected to handle this on your own!

2

If our care team determines that help is needed, we will work with you right away to arrange for the animal to come to our triage facility.

3 Bunnies on your property?

Mowing lawns and domestic pets are the two biggest threats to backyard rabbit nests. Eastern Cottontails mature incredibly fast; by the time they are about 3 to 4 weeks old (roughly the size of a tennis ball with open eyes and erect ears), they are fully independent and will leave the nest on their own.

If you find a nest in your yard, the best solution is to simply give them space for just a few short weeks. Keep dogs on a leash and avoid mowing within a 10-foot radius of the nest until the babies have dispersed. Coexisting with our backyard neighbors ensures native North Carolina wildlife stays wild and free!

Important terms relating to bunnies
(if you are interested in learning more)

Kitten (or Kit): The official name for a baby rabbit. (A group of baby rabbits born together is called a litter).
Doe: An adult female rabbit (the mother).
Buck: An adult male rabbit (the father).
Crepuscular: Animals that are most active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. Mother rabbits are crepuscular to avoid daytime predators, which is why you rarely see them tending to their nests during the day.
Form: The technical name for a rabbit's nest. Unlike rabbits that dig deep underground burrows, Eastern Cottontails create a shallow scratch or depression in the ground, lining it with grass and fur from the mother's belly.
Capture Myopathy: A severe, often fatal condition where extreme fear, stress, or over-exertion causes a wild animal's muscles to break down, releasing toxins that damage their organs. This is why keeping wild rabbits completely quiet and unhandled is a medical necessity.
Lagomorph: The biological order that rabbits, hares, and pikas belong to. While they look like rodents, lagomorphs are distinct because they have a second pair of small incisor teeth hidden directly behind their large front teeth.
Prey Animal: An animal that is hunted and eaten by other animals. Because rabbits are prey, their instinct when frightened is to freeze, hide, or flee violently, they do not understand that humans are trying to help them and view us as predators.
Rehabilitation (Rehab): The professional process of providing medical care and housing to sick, injured, or orphaned wild animals so they can successfully be released back into their natural habitats.