Dead rabbit

[richhodg66]

I went out to shoot some .38 Specials yesterday morning and there was a dead rabbit lying right on the 25 yard line which wasn't there the evening before. Near as I could tell, not a mark on it and otherwise seemed healthy, not starved, fur looked normal, etc. Just having a hard time figuring how a predator would have killed it and not carried it off an it makes me wonder about disease.

We have a LOT of the little guys, I enjoy watching them in the yard, but I don't want them spreading anything that might be harmful. I just took my son's dog, who stays with us a lot out here, in to the vet and among other things, the vet thought it prudent to give him a Lepto vaccination. He didn't seem to think rabbits were a problem, but we have a lot of other rodents around.

It has been absolutely evil hot and dry for a while now, could that have killed it? We have several regulars that come munch the grass close to the glass patio doors where we watch them, was kind of wondering if I should put pans of water out there, but I always thought they got the water they need from the plants they eat.

I've talked to people who have had tuleramia before and I sure don't want that. Any thoughts?

[crowbuster]

I wouldnt worry to much unless you get to seeing a lot of they. Then figure out why. I have been know to put out water for the skewerls n rabbits. Mite as well help them a bit. The birds like it as well. Oh. I would guess he didnt die on the 25 yd line and somebody put him there.

[richhodg66]

I'll stay alert to it. We live out in the sticks, no high speed road where he could have been hit by a car. No poisons or chemicals around and nothing like that ever dies of old age and such in the wild. Just curious.

I have one outside the patio door right now, see him every day, he has a dark spot on the side of his head that makes him distinct. He sure looks happy and healthy to me.

[easilydistrac...]

Maybe Myxomatosis? Apparently American cottontails don't show visible symptoms as often as their European counterparts. I've seen some while hunting that look perfectly healthy but upon closer inspection have a significant tumor under the fur.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Animals, like humans, sometimes die untimely deaths from natural causes.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

my cat likes to catch a bunny and play with it, til it's dead. She never eats even part of one. Most times after it's dead, she will lick/groom the dead bunny like she's prepping it for the taxidermist, LOL.

[Tom W.]

One New Years Day I was hunting with a friend, and the weather was cold and drizzly. I stumbled upon a rabbit in a den. It didn't even jump, just stretched out, got really stiff and died. The guy I was hunting with said it was a "haint", and as he was driving, we got into the truck and left.... He wouldn't even let me touch it!

[quilbilly]

I once had a bunny end up like that in our garden. It had gotten into our Ozette potato patch. I figured if it ate the toxic leaves, that might be the culprit but on the other hand, if it was a disease humans could get, I picked it up with a rake and tossed it.

[Outpost75]

Mr. Wabbit was simply scared to death by your shooting the Mighty .38 Special.

[CastingFool]

I haven't found any dead rabbits, but on two separate ocassions, I have found almost dead racoons in my yard. No signs of trauma,blood, nothing. Barely moving. Simply smashed them hard on the head with a shovel, and threw them in the weeds, out on the back of my property.

[OldBearHair]

Two Rat Terriers, one 29 lbs. one 15 lbs. They brought an animal to the back porch a couple days ago. I had never seen one like that so I looked it up. It was a young flying squirrel. Didn't know we had them here. Conroe Texas. The dogs also team up and catch moles when they are in the shallow tunnels. The little dog listens to the ground and then starts digging wildly and the big dog finds the soft dirt a few feet away and digs toward the little dog and the mole can't get away.

[Geezer in NH]

Uh! Don't eat it.

[bedbugbilly]

Der Gebirgsjager said what I was thinking when I first read this. While I understand the concern when a person runs across a dead animal and there is no apparent reason for it - i.e. trauma, disease, etc. . . . animals are no different than we humans. They are born, they live and at some point, die. It may have been nothing more than the rabbits "time".

My wife and I have always had dogs throughout our married life - and as any dog owner knows - the worst time is when you have to make the decision to have to put an animal down. We had a shepherd elk hound mix years ago that just showed up as a puppy - we made him and outside dog and I put a swinging door in the garage wall so he could come in and out as he pleased and he had a nice warm "box" to sleep in on the step into the mudroom. In later life, he had some health issues and we discovered he had a heart murmur. Every morning, I'd let him out of the garage and he would make the rounds of the 7 1/2 acres that our house sat on - marking his territory and then back for breakfast. One morning, I let him out and watched him make his "rounds". I got his food around and went out and called him. He came running up the field in back of the house and when he got about fifty feet of the garage, he dropped dead right in front of my eyes. I gave him mouth to nose and tried to get him revived but to no avail. (I worked ambulance and fire rescue for many years and several times pulled pets out of house fires and was able to revive them with mouth to nose). Yep, I cradled that dog and cried but it was "his time" and I eventually realized that it was "right" that he was out running his domain for one last time. I'll see him again someday and we'll both be able to run with no worries. Doesn't make any difference if its a turtle, rabbit, horse, dog or whatever .. . . . sometimes it's just time to go.

Maybe that rabbit wss on the 25 yard line for a reason. You obviously love animals and perhaps it was there to remind you to live each day to the fullest. God works in mysterious ways . ..

[xs11jack]

A vet once told me that bunnies can die of fright. That could have been the cause of your bunny's death.
Ole Jack

[Blackwater]

Animals die of "natural causes" of all types every day. Shooting them almost always gives them a MUCH better death than nature would ever provide for them. Their carcasses just don't last long due to vultures, coyotes, possums, and other meat eating animals of larger size. And when they've had their fill, in come the ants to "clean up." Even the bones are reduced by rain, erosion and natural processes of decay. "For dust thou are, and unto dust shalt thou return." It's nature's inevitable cycle, and just because we don't notice it often, doesn't mean it's not there. As someone suggested, if you see many, be concerned and investigate. But one doesn't mean a thing, other than it picked an unusual spot to have a heart attack or whatever killed it. But it's good to see someone thinking about what they observe, though! Many don't even do that these days, and that's just sad.

[smokeywolf]

Before you reach down and pick up that critter, don't forget that whatever that bunny died of, might have come from the fleas or ticks that are on him.

[trapper9260]

Also it can be a weasel . For how it sound also beside die of fright ,I have seen some that have in the past.

[mold maker]

I once killed a rabbit with one 7 1/2 shot through the top of the ear. It must have scared him to death or caused a heart attack.
At the time my kids wouldn't eat wild game, but he made the best chicken pie they ever ate.

[15meter]

Animals, like humans, sometimes die untimely deaths from natural causes.

Having been raised on a farm that had feeder cattle (150-190 head depending on the year and market) and layer chickens (700) Lost both a couple of head of cattle and several dozen chickens over the years. Wrote them off as heart attacks. They looked perfectly normal. Just dead.

It takes a while to dig a hole big enough to bury a 1000+ lb. feeder steer with a trip bucket.

222254

Luckily the cattle all died in warm weather. Not sure what we would have done in January. Dynamite? (that was stored in the old milk house where us kids had access) How the world has changed. Now an unsupervised kid with a bb gun is reason to put the kid in foster care and the parents into jail.

The dead chickens just got launched into the field for the possums.

[richhodg66]

Well, I wasn't about to touch it. I went out of town for an overnight and when I got back, not a sign of it, so most likely a coyote found it and carried it off.

We actually got enough rain this evening to do some good, it was crazy dry and hot for a long time, I can't help but think that's what killed this one. Hopefully with the predicted cooler temps this week and some water, maybe they'll make it through this.