Wild theft: “It’s best to leave rabbits”

Taking a brown hare or a different wild animal is always an interference with a foreign hunting area, explains Christopher Böck, wild biologist and managing director of the state hunting association. This is how you commit wild theft. Exception: “If it is an obvious injured or motherless animal, animal welfare will take effect,” says Böck.

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In such a case, you should not keep the wild animal, but immediately bring it to an animal shelter or animal welfare center. “They know what to do and also inform us of hunters,” says Böck. Puting up a brown hare baby, for example, requires a lot of knowledge and skills. It is also always the top line that the animal can be released again. Because a wild animal can never become a pet, that is only stress for the animal, says the wild biologist.

“Always leave alone in case of doubt”

That rabbit babies are alone most of the time is normal. The brown hare milk is very fatty, so the boys only have to be suckled once a day, which usually happens at night. The rest of the time is not near the boys in order not to attract predators. Field bunny babies that are alone do not always need help, says Böck. “It is difficult to recognize whether you are really without a mother or not. In doubt, you should always leave them alone,” says the wild biologist.

The exception is if the rabbit babies sit on a path or near a busy road and are in danger. Then you should take the animals with a tuft of grass and put a few meters away into the safe terrain. Important here: do not attack the rabbits with their bare hands and only put a few meters away. “Otherwise, the rabbit can no longer find her children,” says Böck.

Hasenbabies saved from soccer field

Three rabbits had to be saved in Salzburg recently. The small bunnies were sitting in the middle of the Red Bull Academy. The animal rescue handed over the rabbit babies to the paw aid, where they are currently being put on. “The three rabbits were very hungry. Apparently the mother was scared through the football business. The babies were at least in mortal danger,” says Pfotenhilfin Johanna Stadler, who took over the care of the little ones.

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