Just one of the hundreds of eastern cottontail rabbits that we have released back into the wild this year! Affectionately referred to as “bun-buns” by our staff, cottontail bunnies make up almost 1/3 of our patients at NWR, usually arriving as infants or juveniles at an age when they are weaning off milk and transitioning to solid foods. The youngest cottontails get hand fed twice daily and gradually move on to self-feeding on an herbivorous diet at about 2 weeks. Throughout the year, we see abo

This is just one of the many eastern cottontail patients we raise and release each season. After they’re weaned, we offer them a wide variety of wild plants they'll encounter in their natural habitat.While many people think greens are bland, rabbits would strongly disagree. With around 17,000 taste buds — far more than the 2,000 to 8,000 humans have — eastern cottontails experience a rich spectrum of flavors. Their diet includes buds, clover, grasses, dandelion heads and greens, flower blossoms,