Poor wee hare/rabbit

Graces7

Driving very early and slowly this morning on a country main road.

Went round a bend and there were three baby hares/rabbits just sitting in the road.

Thought at first they were statues...tiny wee things.

Just nothing we could do to avoid them. Sadly one was killed.

Have never seen this before. It was soon before 6 am.

Anna Molly

what did you do with the remaining ones?
Did the hop away or..?

convert

Somethings things like that just happen and there's nothing that can be done to avoid them. However, what really galls me is the people who will deliberately swerve in order to try and hit/kill an animal on the road. :mad:

dancingqueen

Graces7 wrote: »

Driving very early and slowly this morning on a country main road.

Went round a bend and there were three baby hares/rabbits just sitting in the road.

Thought at first they were statues...tiny wee things.

Just nothing we could do to avoid them. Sadly one was killed.

Have never seen this before. It was soon before 6 am.

If you were driving slowly couldn't you have stopped?

TooManyDogs

Rabbits/hares with myxomatosis go blind and often just sit exactly where they are because they can't see where to go. If the ones you saw did have myxomatosis then the one you killed actually got a cleaner death, the disease is a horrible way for them to die.

convert

I've often seen young rabbits out on the road in the early mornings, especially around 6.00 or 7.00am, and where the burrow is in a ditch adjacent to the road. Normally they'll scurry when they hear/feel a vehicle coming, but if they're very young, often they don't know enough about taking flight and hence get killed on the road. Moreover, a lot of the time they seem to be misbehaving and have run out onto the road despite their mother's warnings!

There are a few young rabbits close to our house who live in a pile of logs. When they were very young they usen't run away when we'd walk/drive past. We literally used to be able to walk within a foot of them (no exaggeration). In the end we actually used to make noise deliberately and make it seem like we were going to try and catch them so that they'd learn to take flight from other predators. The first few times we did it, the kittens literally hopped a foot from us and sat there looking at us. However, they soon got the hang of it, and the three of them have survived.

Graces7

dancingqueen wrote: »

If you were driving slowly couldn't you have stopped?

They were too near to do that. Would have done, believe me. Just was no time to do anything. I would not kill anything if it could be avoided. Not even time/space to swerve as they were sitting all across the road. Which way to go? Any direction would hit one or more.

The others got away thankfully so I suppose it could have been worse

convert; thank you so much! It was a busy day and I kind of blanked it out until now. Feel sick now.

We meet hares often on the lane down the mountain here and they always race in front of the car, rather than head for the verges and hedges. But there is time then to slow and stop until they escape.

This was a main road which is why it was such a shock. Poor wee thing. So sorry, wee kit

morganafay

Poor little guy, it wasn't your fault though, please don't feel too bad. I'd guess they were just too young to be afraid and run away.

Sigma Force

Very normal at this time of year, baby rabbits have no road sense and will just sit there or not move quick enough. I'm on country roads every day and there out at all times of the day at this time of the year. No matter how careful you drive it can happen, every week here there's dead baby buns on our road atm. Lots on main roads as well.

The babies also just leap out of the hedges at the last minute some of them are really tiny.

Try not to feel too bad, it's horrible when you hit a critter but it can be dangerous to swerve or stop suddenly to avoid hitting them obviously if there's time and the roads are clear but not worth risking hitting a car or having an accident yourself.

Graces7

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

Very normal at this time of year, baby rabbits have no road sense and will just sit there or not move quick enough. I'm on country roads every day and there out at all times of the day at this time of the year. No matter how careful you drive it can happen, every week here there's dead baby buns on our road atm. Lots on main roads as well.

The babies also just leap out of the hedges at the last minute some of them are really tiny.

Try not to feel too bad, it's horrible when you hit a critter but it can be dangerous to swerve or stop suddenly to avoid hitting them obviously if there's time and the roads are clear but not worth risking hitting a car or having an accident yourself.

Thank you. I keep hearing the sound.. It was because they were so still; thought it was rubbish or something on the road.. I take huge care with the racing hares, stopping until they are safe in the hedge, then crawling past.At least the other two escaped.

Wolfsberg

That's very sad Sorella... Oops sorry I mean Graces7!