Bunnies are back

When we first moved into our house, it was a new subdivision built in the woods; where they tried to leave as much natural woods as possible.  We had lots of wildlife quite a bit of which has disappeared.  We had Bob whites, whip-er-wills, frogs (they just kind of thinned out in numbers never completely went away) , foxes,an occasional Bobcat, squirrels, and rabbits which disappeared for many years.  The Whip-er-wills and the frogs disappeared because Georgia had a drought for so long that the wetlands around us dried up.  The rest disappeared mostly due to wild dogs.  People used to think this was a terrific place to dump dogs.  I guess they figured we were far enough out so they could get away with it and enough people so that someone would pick them up and take care of them.  Sometimes it worked; one of our dogs 'followed' my daughter home inside her coat, and was put down in the yard so we would think it had indeed followed her home.  Since it was her birthday we got a surprise present from her to her.  This poor puppy was found quite literally under a cabbage in our neighbors yard in the rain.  Sad eyed child with a sad eyed puppy, well what could we do?

 However not all dogs who got dumped where so lucky and since we leave out in the county and there is no leash law some of our neighbors just let their dogs run.  It didn't take long for us to have a wild dog pack.  We rescued a little bunny who was injured but sad to say it only lived a few days.  The dogs got into the neighbors rabbit hutch, where they raised rabbits for food.  Some of them got eaten, but some got away and we had some funky looking cottontails for awhile.  Strange colors and spotted.

The neighbors decided that they had become a danger with lots of children in the neighborhood and the threat of rabies (we had wild foxes in the area with confirmed rabies).  They wouldn't let my friend out of the car.  Wild dogs with rabies would have been a greater threat due to their size and because kids being kids would want to go pet the 'nice' doggies.  Our neighbors waged a war against them and eventually they were eradicated, but by then the Bob Whites, rabbits and squirrels were gone.  Then the foxes and bobcats left due to lack of prey.

 

The squirrels started coming back last fall and have been entertaining us once again.  Now the sweet little rabbits are back and I was thrilled to see one once again.  Since I couldn't get a lot of pictures I took the best one and played with it.  I certainly hope we continue to get our wildlife back.  We're helping out with the birds with our bird feeders.  I don't know to help with the little critters but they do seem to be coming back on their own.  It is so wonderful to see nature heal itself after suffering from man's follies.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺