Peter Cottontail at Heartland

Six tiny itty-bitty little cottontails, only about 10 days old, arrived Saturday as the newest addition to Heartland; students from OU had spotted them on a meadow dangerously close to the lawn mower.


Their stay will only be temporary; once they´ve grown, they have to be released into the wild again. In the meantime, they are being fed with a special formula, and while some of the little ones are drinking quite readily...

others are stubbornly resisting, going so far as to hide their faces ...

... poor little things, such unfamiliar surroundings, the sounds, the smells, and the milk just doesn´t taste at all like mommy´s, does it? It is no easy task to raise wild bunnies, but we hope for the best. They are in the best hands with Jeannie as this isn´t the first time she has to raise baby cottontails. It is a joy to see them grow and thrive, but on the other hand it is always heartbreaking to find a safe spot to release them and to watch them hop away into an insecure future.