Snowshoe Hares

In the village where my father works, a crew was building a fire line when they discovered these little guys hiding underneath a brush pile (The brush had been piled there for less than four days, so these five snowshoe hares were certainly younger than that. My guess is they were either one or two days old when they were discovered). So my dad calls me up--it's my week off--and volunteers me to take care of them.

My family has often undertaken mercy missions like this in the past (ducks, hares, swallows, woodpeckers, and other birds), but none has ever been successful. The problem here is that we're too (soft/dumb/stubborn. . .your pick) to just let them die in the wild. . . we have to do everything we can to save them.

So I have a huge burden on my shoulders, as I am the latest in a long series of futile efforts to save wild animals. I don't want to fail.

When these guys were placed in my care, the first order of business was to get some food into them. I mixed some powdered milk and a little sugar and heated it over the oven so that it was warm, and then soaked a towel for them to suck on. . . didn't work. I raided my mom's vanity and nicked an eye-dropper, which worked somewhat better, but they still barely ate. I was very worried, because all they were doing was piling in the corner of the little box they were in and sleeping. Sometimes they looked dead.

Fortunately, I live in the Internet generation, so I did some research to figure out what these guys eat. I didn't find anything that I didn't already know, but I did stumble across a recording of a showshoe hare on the National Geographic website, which I played (If you don't know already, the main sound that these little bunnies make is a horrible screaming cry when they are in mortal danger). I was hoping for something a little different, but no, it was a rabbit screaming. My new little charges panicked, and I felt horrible, but it did demonstrate that they were still alive.

I did learn that they do most of their eating at night, so I left them alone for the rest of the day and tried to feed them later at night. I can't say that I was much more successful, but I did get them to eat a little.


They next couple days went a bit better. I've gotten them to eat more when I feed them, about as much as an eyedropper can suck up in one dip. Hopefully, they are getting the nutrients that growing bunnies need. I've tried boiling plants and bark to add to their milk, but I don't know if that is working or not.



Whatever the case, they seem to be perking up. A couple seem to have plenty of energy, and all of them can move fairly well (when I got them they were so weak/young/both that they trembled when they moved, but now they hop pretty nicely). One of them does seem a little weaker, but I still have hope for him. Two have one eye closed, I don't know why, snowshoe hares are born with fur and open eyes. . .


Anyway, if you have any experience or advise let me know. These bunnies need all the help they can get!