To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Rabbit nest
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:29:14 -0400
I was working in my fenced orchard yesterday when my dog stepped on
something that gave out a loud squeak.
We both started digging and I found a shallow, loose nest lined with
soft hair and 4 adorable baby rabbits, about 3 inches below the surface
of the lawn next to a mulched bed. They were apparently close to
weaning as their eyes were open and they were about 5 inches long, They
were apparently healthy and fat (they should be fat - they were fed on
milk made from my well-cultivated but decimated soybean crop!).
Anyway, I disposed of the nest with some mixed feelings (why do they
have to be so darn cute?).
I am now piling a gravel mixture mounded up along my woven wire fence. I
think that rabbits have been slipping under the fence where small gaps
exist between the wire and the ground.
My question is- why didn't my dogs smell those babies? It seems
incredible to me, that my sharp-nosed hounds were lying right next to
that nest. We never would have found it if a paw had not made a direct
hit. I am concerned about other nests lurking about. There was
certainly no visual cue that a nest existed there.