Assessing juvenile or adult rabbits: Does the animal need help?
Baby rabbits become independent of their parent when they are still very small–about the size of a hamster! To assess whether a juvenile rabbit needs help, answer the following questions: Is the baby able to hop around independently (as opposed to crawling along the ground)? Does it hop away quickly when approached? Does it appear active and healthy and has not been picked up by a dog or cat? If you answered YES to ALL of the above questions, the baby is likely fine and should be left alone or released where it was found if already contained (if the baby has been in human care for more than a day or has been fed milk or formula, however, it may need helpcall our wildlife hotline for further advice). Although they may appear small and defenseless, these small rabbits are going through a normal and essential part of their developmentrabbits are vulnerable to predation throughout their lives and people can do greater damage by attempting to protect babies from their natural environments.
