A woman has shared a video, with 12.8 million views, of her cat bringing her a baby rabbit, then leading her directly to the nest.
In the TikTok clip posted by Vera Vertegaal, his cat Ellie brings him the rabbit of a few days. Ellie then leads her through the garden directly to the nest, so that the baby can be placed back with her sisters and brothers. Vertegaal told TikTok viewers that the mother rabbit is back and has been seen taking care of the babies.
Vera Vertegal
Outdoor domestic cats are the leading human-caused threat to wildlife in the United States, killing 1.3 to 3.7 million birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually. . This was according to a 2013 study by Scott R. Loss and other members of the Smithsonian Institute for Conservation Biology, as well as the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Young birds, newborn rabbits and other mammals are common prey for cats, both wild and domesticated. However, as Vertegaal said news weekEllie, the 5-year-old rescue cat, showed “no interest in harming the baby rabbit.”
Vertegaal, from Ontario, Canada, said: “Ellie has always been great with small animals. She gets along great with my pet ferret, who often roams the house freely. I’ve never actually hunted wild animals before. It’s quite lazy and usually likes to just sit on my porch.”
Vertegaal added that Ellie “wasn’t trying to eat the rabbit or harm it in any way. Even when we went looking for the nest, she didn’t grab any babies. She just sat and watched. I also noticed that the nest wasn’t dug up at all.” It was completely covered and showed no sign that she had disturbed it, which leads me to believe that the baby was already out of the nest when Ellie found it.”
With spring in full swing, many people may come across rabbit nests in their yards. Many users in TikTok comments criticized Vertegaal for touching the baby rabbit. However, Ellie’s owner said: “Many people believe that animals abandon their young because of human scent. This is a myth that children are taught to leave wild animals alone. In general, it is a beneficial myth, since you really shouldn’t bother a baby.” nest or hatchlings, unless necessary.
“However, many people grow up and continue to believe it without having done any research on it,” Vertegaal added. “Mother rabbits are very passionate about their babies. Occasionally they will abandon their young, but this is incredibly rare and often due to a constant threat of danger. Silently disturbing the nest for even a brief moment is highly unlikely to cause such an extreme reaction.”
Experts are divided online on this. The Humane Society said that while it is a myth “that birds will abandon their young if touched by a person,” you should “avoid touching the babies, because strange odors can cause the mother to abandon her young.” . The Toronto Wildlife Center disagreed: “If you touch a baby rabbit, its mother usually won’t give it up. Rabbits are great moms. All they want is their baby back.”
Vertegaal said he would not continue “to bother them, as I believe nature should be left alone. I don’t want to sacrifice the well-being of the rabbits for content and views.”
He explained that the purpose of his video was to show that if you find a baby rabbit, you should try to find the nest. Vestegaal also wanted to point out that wild rabbits are not pets and often die when humans take them from their mothers in an attempt to “rescue” them. She said: “I just want to spread the word about helping wildlife with as little disruption as possible.”
Back on TikTok, one user wrote: “I can’t believe your cat took you to where the nest was, that’s fantastic.”
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