I accidentally killed a baby bunny gardening today

Govtgirl

Govtgirl

Cathlete
I can't stop crying........like big, heaping gulping-type crying.A t the edge of my house (where I had MOWED last week!!) I decided to use my minitiller to rough up the grass so I could lay some compost on top, and let "cook" to plant flowers in a few weeks. The grass was short all over except for about less than 1 inch wide near the house, and I'm going along and then I see what looks like dryer lint, then I realized it's bunny down :( I didn't know what it was, then I saw tiny bunnies!!! :( :( :(

I was going "OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!" and picked them up and realized I'd hit a bunny nest!! :( I pciked up 2 bunnies as they were burrowing back int eh grass and looked at them and they were ok then saw the 3rd bunny and he was bleeding from his tummy and gasping and I just sat in the grass sobbing like a baby and wondering what do I do how do I put it out of its misery?????? My husband wasn't there and it looked like he was about to die and i ran inside and called my sister crying so hard you'd think I had killed a person. Then I decided to take it to the emergecny room and I wnt back outsie and it was dead, he was cold and not moving, so I buried him in the backyard and put flowers on top of his little body and then buried him and then put pansies on top :(

I could just DIE I am so upset!!! I called my husband, he was on his way home from golfing, he was so sweet and rushed home and hugged me while I cried like a baby. And can't stop crying!!! i kiled that little tiny baby bunny, I didn't mean to, I mean, we had just MOWED in that EXACT same spot last week!!!

So then my husband comes home and he's wonderful and hugs me and checks the arrea and tries to calm me down and say what did you do in the yard today, and as I'm showing him stuff a neighbor comes by and i tell them what happendd (and started crying!!) andt hey sort of shrugged and said "rabbits are rodents and they eat your flowers and then I started crying again.

I feel so awful, it was just this tiny innocent bunny and I KILLED it!! :(
Wahhhh.
 
Oh, you poor thing. ((hug)) You didn't mean to hurt him, and that's what matters.

You did everything right. You checked the other 2 babies, and you were willing to take the 3rd to the vet, which is so kind-hearted of you. I also love that you gave him a proper burial.

Wherever he is now, he's okay. :)
 
Just wanted to send some hugs your way and tell you that I am so sorry. I understand being so upset - I am like you that way - but keep trying to remind yourself that you could never have know the nest was there. It was an accident that could have happened to any of us! You clearly have a huge heart, and it says so much about you that you care so much about that bunny. Many people would have just said, "oops," and moved on. I'm sure the bunny is resting peacefully now.

Try to have a good night. You'll feel better tomorrow.

Deborah
 
oh my goodness! I feel your sadness!
((hugs))

A dog ran out in front of me once when I was driving down a country road. I'll spare the awful details because I'm sure you're in no mood to hear it, but I felt worse for the dog than I did for my pcoketbook/vehicle.
Awful feeling in your stomach.
((more hugs))
 
I'm tearing up just reading about it! I am sooo sorry! I always feel so badly for animals. They're innocent and don't understand these big scary machines! But, an accident is an accident. It won't make you feel any better, but it wasn't your fault.

My heart goes out to you.
 
I know how you feel...We live in the country and have country dogs...Well one day we were out in the yard and we noticed our dogs frolicking so happily. It was like they were playing keep away. When they got close we heard a weird noise. It is kind of indescribable. High pitched howling or something. One of our dogs mouth was kind of half closed but kind of open. Inside was a baby bunny. Still alive but frightened half to death. We forced the dog to let us have it but as I learned later you can literally scare a bunny to death. Esp. a baby. And even with all our effort it did not make it. I too cried like a baby. But Irealize that these things do happen. Especially as we encroche more and more into there space it is bound to happen. I know you are heart sick but you did do the right thing in checking the area. You did not mean to hurt it. Try to not beat yourself up to badly.
Rachel
 
I'm so sorry for you. It must have been awful! It's OK though, you did what you could do and remember it was an accident.

((((((hugs to you and bunny))))))

Janie
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awwwah,.. I would feel so sad too, I'm not sure what I'd do, animals getting hurt breaks my heart and I would feel so bad knowing I caused any harm, even if it's an accident. You sound like such a good person for caring, like you said most people wouldn't care =( Take care of the other 2!
 
I am sorry this happened. I had this same awful experience a number of years ago and it was just terrible. The guilt!
 
One of the bunnies came back, the other may be there too, but I didn't want to poke around because the one bunny was scared to death and shaking. I'm hoping the Mom came back overnight and found them and took them somehwere else.

And as awful as this was, and horrible that a bunny died by being cut, I guess actually could have been worse. Instead of tilling it, I was thinking of laying down some wet leaves and plastic to smother the area, I've done that before to prepare an area for planting. That would have killed all three :(

I swear, if you could see where that nest was, it was like below normal ground level right against the stone of our house behind the grass. It was totally invisible. I would have had to hand-pull all that grass to find them without hurting them.

I still feel so awful. I'm just a big softie for animals; I'm a vegetarian, I probably spend $30 a month to feed the squirrels and birds, and even painted the squirrel feeder to match the bird feeder. My husband thought I went a little too far on that one but he admits it's cute.

Sigh.....
 
Govtgirl , in India we call your attitude ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-violence. It is a belief that the world was made for all creatures and all elements of nature and they all have as much right to the world as humans. People who susbcribe to ahimsa try not to destroy or inflict harm. On animals, on earth on each other. This dates back to ancient times....a long, long time before environment consciousness.

In India we have another ancient custom of bhoomi puja (earth-prayer) before any tilling or construction happens. It is practised to this day. The purpose of bhoomi puja is to thank mother earth for her bounty and to apologize to nature for any inadvertant death or migration of little creatures that could ensue when the land is developed. So even ahimsa recognizes that accidents happen.

Buddha believed in ahimsa depending on which historian/disciple's interpretation you read. Mahatma Gandhi did too. He encouraged Indians to struggle without violence for independance of India from British colonialism.

I try to practise ahimsa. I am vegetarian too.

I admire you Govtgirl (and Kathryn if you read this) and so many others at Cathenation who seem to live the principle of ahimsa even though you may not call it that.

Sorry to go off topic, but this may interest animal lovers. Dairy is not contrary to ahimsa. But that was in the age when calves were not separated from cows soon after birth, and cows were treated as cherished pets in Indian society. There was no bovine growth hormone and no tethering a cow into a stall for the bulk of her life as if she were a milk vending machine. There was no artificial insemination to keep a cow constantly pregnant and lactating. I am sure current dairy farming methods constitute ahimsa. Silk produced the conventional way is considered himsa (opposite of ahimsa). Ahmisa silk is made in India by waiting for the silkworm to hatch (silk is usually made before the larva hatches by boling/cooking the larva because after hatching, the silk is not as fine).

I hope you feel better Govtgirl. I know you will mourn for baby bunny but please dont feel guilty. I just closed my eyes and did a bhoomi pooji in my mind with retrospective effect for your gardening effort.
 
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Very sad indeed . I am so sorry you experienced this . It feels awful and is such a shock to have something happen so suddenly like that. I had a similar experience while driving on the Richmond Bridge in California. I was just driving along and a big Pelican landed on the bridge right in front of me . I had no place to go cuz I was in far left lane and cars were beside me. I will never forget the look on its face when it touched down , saw my Xterra and started flapping its wings like crazy . It looked so scared. I felt so awful . As far as the neighbors go who brushed it off as no big deal , I find their response insensitive.
 
Bless your heart. I FEEL your devastation and am sending love, prayers, and good thoughts your way. Don't be too hard on your neighbor. We're all different breeds and not everyone feels about these things as we do. You really had no way of knowing. Time will help.
 
Govtgirl said:
a neighbor comes by and i tell them what happendd (and started crying!!) andt hey sort of shrugged and said "rabbits are rodents and they eat your flowers and then I started crying again.

I feel so awful, it was just this tiny innocent bunny and I KILLED it!! :(
Wahhhh.
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Your neighbor is incorrect stating that rabbits are rodents. Rabbits aren't rodents (like rats or mice) - they are lagomorphs. Rabbits are actually more closely related to horses than they are to mice. Rabbits and horses share similarities in their diet and in their method of digesting food.

http://www.rabbit.org/fun/answer5.html

Govtgirl-At any rate I'm sorry you experienced this. :(

Vee- very interesting story.
 
Govtgirl - Omg, that is so horrible and I feel bad for you! Im sorry you went through that and I hope the other bunnies are okay. Btw, your neighbor sucks. Just saying.

Vee - That's a great philosophy. I believe something similar, except I'm not a vegetarian, I believe in a circle of life, we eat animals and such, we die, worms eat us, other things eat worms, etc, etc humans dont live up to our part of that. (surprise surprise)
 
So sorry!

GovtGirl, I am so sorry for you!

I ran over my own cat once -- I felt absolutely horrible! She walked under my car from the other side just as I was pulling out of the driveway. I never saw her and didn't realize it until afterward.

Even though she was pretty old, she didn't die, but lay in a basket in the kitchen for days. I was so afraid that she would die and was miserable until she eventually recovered. She cashed in one of her 9 kitty lives that day, and it was all my fault.

Please try not to berate yourself. It was an accident. You have a good heart; be kind to yourself.

I hope you feel better soon!
 
I will admit that I didn't read the whole post or any of the responses!!!! Because i was crying at the subject line!!!!

I did the same thing a few years ago and was devastated. I held 2 of the babies and called the vet who told me that the mom would not come back now because I had touched them. It was awful.

I feel for you and I'm sorry this happened. It's okay to cry. But it really wasn't your fault and you certainly didn't set out to do it!!!
And to all the previous posters I'm sorry if something similar happened to you. I just couldn't read about it.

ellie
 
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