Can you keep "wild" rabbits that care for themselves?

Welshwoofs

Errrr why would anyone want to encourage wild rabbits into the garden??? The bloody countryside is over-run with the things as it is! If you're talking about rabbits for meat then the New Zealand White is the traditional one for the pot but no, you couldn't just let them loose in the garden to fend for themselves because they'd be picked off by foxes and buzzards or become stressed and run off to hide. You'd need to have hutches and secure runs.

If it's a case of wanting to keep a large area of grass cropped, the best bet is to get a couple of lambs and then have them taken to the abattoir around the 6 month mark, thereby supplying you with meat. Failing that a goat (though they do tend to eat a lot of other stuff you don't particularly want them touching too)

simmed

Raksha wrote: »

I think the RSPCA might have something to say - freedom from fear is one of the five freedoms domestic animals are supposed to have (otherwise what point is there in domesticating them?)

I direct you to the thread title:

"Can you keep "wild" rabbits that care for themselves?"

simmed

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Nature is impartial, rather than cruel. People are cruel.

By all means, allow wild rabbits in your garden, but to put something that has been bred to be less jumpy, slower, fatter, shows up against a green backdrop like a beacon and is generally poorly adapted for the life of a wild rabbit isn't nature.

Indeed :money:

simmed

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I suppose if you treated them like free range hens it might work. You'd need to round them up and put them back in the hutch every night to keep them safe.

Yeah, I imagine that would be an absolute pain with rabbits though..

Nimeth

Why is wild in quotation marks? They're either wild or they're domesticated.

Either way, rabbits will make a huge mess out of your garden, eating every plant in sight and digging extensive burrows under the ground to nest in. Free range rabbits will also be at risk from foxes (who sometimes just take the heads and leave the body for you to clean up) and birds of prey. That doesn't even account for the diseases that they get, myxomatosis and VHD being the worst, among other bacterial infections.

If you want to keep animals in the garden that are free ranging, goats or sheep would be better.

simmed

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Errrr why would anyone want to encourage wild rabbits into the garden??? The bloody countryside is over-run with the things as it is! If you're talking about rabbits for meat then the New Zealand White is the traditional one for the pot but no, you couldn't just let them loose in the garden to fend for themselves because they'd be picked off by foxes and buzzards or become stressed and run off to hide. You'd need to have hutches and secure runs.

If it's a case of wanting to keep a large area of grass cropped, the best bet is to get a couple of lambs and then have them taken to the abattoir around the 6 month mark, thereby supplying you with meat. Failing that a goat (though they do tend to eat a lot of other stuff you don't particularly want them touching too)

These 2 parts of your post directly contradict each other.

Anyway, a goat also sounds like a good idea. Do goats eat grass/general wild foliage? What would the best thing be to plant in your garden for a goat to eat?

scooby088

Only good thing for a rabbit and thats to go in the pot to make a good stew.:rotfl:

simmed

Nimeth wrote: »

Why is wild in quotation marks? They're either wild or they're domesticated.

Either way, rabbits will make a huge mess out of your garden, eating every plant in sight and digging extensive burrows under the ground to nest in. Free range rabbits will also be at risk from foxes (who sometimes just take the heads and leave the body for you to clean up) and birds of prey. That doesn't even account for the diseases that they get, myxomatosis and VHD being the worst, among other bacterial infections.

If you want to keep animals in the garden that are free ranging, goats or sheep would be better.

As opposed to pessimists telling me "it can't be done!" I would rather have some advice on how it can be done, thanks. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Goats eat pretty much everything. Including stuff they shouldn't - so you would have to remove more stuff than you put in.

Oh, and they are the greatest escape artists I know.

Great fun, though.


Not convinced that the pets forum is the best place to be having this discussion though - Pets aren't generally seen as a food source.

Nimeth

simmed wrote: »

As opposed to pessimists telling me "it can't be done!" I would rather have some advice on how it can be done, thanks. Where there's a will, there's a way.

I won't give you advice on how it can be done because I think it shouldn't be done. But if you fancy constantly picking up rabbit carcasses, feel free.

And if they do get Myxomatosis, you'll need to call someone to come out and put them down so they don't spread the disease everywhere.