Do you live in an area that you can often find stray rabbits hop around the neighborhood? If it’s a yes, their presence must somehow disturb your daily routines, since they might hop into your lawn and dig some holes here and there, or even worse they might mess with your beloved garden. They will also become a threat if they hop into the streets and surprise any vehicle drivers. To keep your neighborhood safe from any harm and danger caused by rabbits, it’s best if you can pick those stray rabbits and put them in a better and safer place. So, here are 7 ways to catch stray rabbit that you can do by the help of some people in your family or your neighborhood. It’s quite easy to do, so better pay attention to make sure you will able to do them right!

Is catching a stray rabbit possible to do?

Stray rabbit is an animal that quite tricky to catch, and it’s not possible to catch one but you need patience to do it. It tends to be more sensitive than pet rabbit and when it notices unfamiliar movement or sights, it will hop away since it thinks there is danger approaching. If it feels threatened, it might go aggressive and able to attack back on you, which is an unpleasant thing to witness. That’s why to catch any of it, you need some help from your family members or from your neighborhood. Here we will discuss 7 ways to catch stray rabbit, so prepare your notes!

1. Guide away from traffic

Stray rabbit might hop around when you try to approach it, and it’s possible for them to jump into the streets nearby. You need to make sure that the rabbit is staying away from the streets and other crowded public areas, since it makes the catching process harder and more dangerous for the rabbit and others. When it starts to hop closer to the streets, you can block its way with the help of others. Don’t have to be so aggressive, just try to make sure that the rabbit can’t hop any closer to the streets. Lead the rabbit to a more secluded place so it won’t be a threat, since stray rabbit is completely unaware with the dangers around the streets.

Check this: 3 Ways to Pet A Domestic Rabbit for New Owner

2. Surround the rabbit

Blocking the rabbit after you got it in a safe space is the next step you need to do after. Since rabbit is a quite agile one, you might need some help from your family or neighbors. Try to keep close distance so there isn’t any space for the rabbit to hop away. Or if you can’t gather enough people to help, you can use some tools like chicken-wire frames or others that will able to circle around the bunny. Make sure that you surround the rabbit slowly and gently, so the bunny won’t get too stressed. If you notice the bunny getting tense, you can stop of a while and wait until the bunny calms down before trying to move closer again.

3. Pick it up

As you able to surround the bunny and got a good distance to pick it up, try to move slowly towards the bunny and pick the bunny gently to your arms when you able to reach it. Please note that a cornered, stray rabbit is a very sensitive animal so do everything as gentle as possible. You can get a firm grip on the back of its neck just to keep it stay still before gently scoop its underside. And if it runs away, just stay gentle and patient towards the bunny and try again. Stray rabbit is completely not used with human’s appearance, so patience is the key of catching it into your arms.

4. Put in the carrier

After you got the bunny into your embrace, put it into the carrier. You only able to hold a stray bunny for a while before it starts to fuzz around your hold. It’s better to put it into the carrier right after you get a hold of the bunny. Another reason is because the bunny will get stressed for being in human’s touch since it’s still not used with human’s presence. A stressed stray rabbit in someone’s arms might turned into a disaster, it can kick, claw, or even bite you so it’s better to put them inside the carrier as soon as you catch it. Also prepare some snacks inside the carrier so the rabbit won’t get too stressed up.

Click here: 8 Ways to Get Your Pet Rabbit Back in Its Cage

5. Call the experts

If you already have the bunny in a safe place, the next thing you have to do is calling the experts. Handling a stray bunny might need some special steps since it’s not used with human’s presence around it. It’s better to have the experts to solve that kind of thing. While waiting for the expert to take care of the situation, you can keep on checking for the bunny’s water and snack. Since a caught stray bunny mostly get stressed, giving it water and snack might distract it for a while.

6. Don’t catch without enclosures

Stray bunny is a very lively animal, and it will hop away whenever something it unfamiliar with come any closer. Trying to catch the stray bunny with enclosures is already hard enough, so don’t even try to catch it without enclosures. It will be twice harder, and also it will increase the risk of the bunny getting injured since it will hop away and will be less aware with other dangerous threats like sharp objects. It will be even worse if the bunny decides to become aggressive and starts to attack on you, so don’t even try to catch it without any enclosures.

7. Avoid live traps

Live trap is definitely the last thing you can use to catch the stray rabbit. Live trap tends to make the bunny stressed up, and a stressed stray rabbit is a very unpleasant sight. Instead of using live traps, you can use trail of snacks into the carrier instead. Again, it will need some time until the bunny is willing to get into the carrier but at least the bunny won’t get stressed. Seriously everyone, live trap is a big no-no if you want to catch stray rabbit safely.

And that’s all about 7 ways to catch stray rabbit. Although there are some other ways or method that you can use, this one proved easy and safe to do by yourself and with the help of your neighbors or family members. Just make sure that you do all the steps gently so it won’t stress up the bunny. Good luck catching any, rabbit lovers!