I Accidentally Killed A Bunny
I can’t tell you how sorry I feel about this.
We have two garden beds in our yard. They’re raised beds created with cinder blocks. After clearing the overwintered plants, we let the bare beds rest for a week before planting new seedlings.
On the day of the planting, I went to turn the dirt with a pitchfork.
After going over the bed once, I saw that I missed a spot and went back to turn it. Jabbing my pitchfork into the bed, I heard yelping! Flustered, I picked around the dirt and discovered three little bunnies in a little nest tucked beneath the dirt. The nest was so well concealed none of us saw it there. The bunnies were so cute and precious!
Then I realized that I had unintentionally injured one of the babies in its hind leg! I felt so bad I kept apologizing to it. The guilt was terrible, but I thought it’d survive. There wasn’t any blood and even though he limped, he was able to move around.
So we put the injured baby bunny in a box and brought it to a wildlife rehabilitation center the next day. It was scuttling and alert the whole time between its ordeal in the bed and the journey to the center.
I was hopeful.
Two days later, I sent an email to the center to ask about it, and they told me the bunny died shortly after we sent it in…
I love furry animals, and I accidentally killed one! It’s a horrible feeling. I cried.
It has been a week since I learnt that it died, but it still hurts to write about the incident. In fact, I didn’t want to post about it because I feel so guilty. But if I didn’t know this could happen, others may not know too. I hope that you guys would be more careful than I was if you ever turn your garden beds.
It didn’t cross my mind that there would be a rabbit’s nest in the bed. I assumed that they wouldn’t make a nest where there’s no vegetation covering the area. I was wrong.
If you have a garden bed and need to turn the soil, please look out for rabbit’s nests! They can be there even if there are no plants in the beds, and they’ll be under the dirt so they’re camouflaged.
Don’t make the mistake I did. It really sucks.
Oh how awful you must have felt! Good you wrote this to alert others. Cheer up. Feel better. Maybe you can adopt the other baby bunnies and care for them if you have garden space.
Yeah it was really awful. I try not to think about it. The other two ran away, but we think their mom is around. I’ve been looking out for them. 🙂
😀You are very kind
Thanks for making me feel better!
Most welcome🤗
Thank you so much for sharing this post! We have a huge garden and although rabbits/bunnies are rare in our area, your post made me more aware of the possibility when we’re attending our garden! I know how guilty you must have felt but I hope you’ll feel better soon! If it makes you feel even a little better, rabbits/bunnies die quite easily…I once had a bunny die in the rain because apparently they can’t be wet? Another died after getting stuck between some bricks behind my grandmother’s house (they hopped into the bricks themselves) and a friend told me her baby bunny died after the mother rabbit accidentally sat on it! (It was a fat mummy). So I hope you’ll feel better about yourself now! Again, thanks for sharing!
Glad the post helped to make you more aware! I didn’t know they were that delicate. I only know they scare easily and that can stress them so much they die from it. I didn’t dare to check on it when it was in the box, as much as I wanted to. It’s so cute! Thanks for sharing those anecdotes, for reading and commenting. I appreciate it! 🙂
OH dear! I would totally feel guilty but reading it as an objective reader, of course it was just completely accidental. We also have raised garden beds so I really appreciate you sharing this! Here’s to the little baby rabbit saving the lives of many by your bringing awareness to this so it won’t happen again in your readers gardens!
Aww thank you! Glad you found it helpful, part of me wondered if I was the only one who didn’t know this could happen. Yes, the little baby rabbit didn’t die in vain. A little consolation. 🙂
I often go for walks also known as my exercise. On one occasion I saw a bunny rabbit but it freaked out when it saw me then ran into the road so I started telling the rabbit off at the side of the road like a crazy person. It worked because it came back and retreated into a field. I also told off a hedgehog for just sitting in the road so I told him to get out the road and that I would be angry if I came back later to find him squished in the road.
It’s so nice of you to care for them! And sometimes I can’t help but wonder if they understand. Maybe it’s the emotions in your voice. Next year I’m going to shout warnings before I start turning the beds – of course I’ll check too. 🙂
Yes make sure there are no bunny rabbits hiding x