North Texas rescue group releases rabbits into wild

by Josh Pherigo of North Texas Daily

About two-dozen people gathered Wednesday afternoon at a Southlake nature preserve to support seven cottontail rabbits in their reintroduction to the North Texas wild.

The event, at Bob Jones Nature Preserve, was sponsored by the Denton-area wild life organization, Wild Rescue Inc.

“We rescue and release between 500 and 700 rabbits each year in the North Texas area,” the group’s director, Diana Leggett said.

Leggett said rabbits have moved into urban areas as cities expand and consume much of their natural habitat.

She said the rabbits brought to the organization are often orphaned and must be nursed back to health before they can be released.

“More and more cottontails have moved to the cities and out of rural areas in recent years because of the amount of suburban gardens and parks,” Leggett said. “Dogs, cats and lawnmowers often find rabbit nests and kill the mothers.”

Ten-year-old resident Quinn Roberts attended the event with his family.

He said he was glad to lend some of his own rabbit knowledge when Leggett asked the children if they knew how many times a rabbit mother feeds her babies.

“Once or twice a day,” Roberts answered. “She doesn’t want to alert predators to where the nest is located.”

Lindsay Hooker, the group’s vice president of public relations, said its Web site, www.rescuedrabbits.com, has information on how people can help save rabbits.

She said the organization held a fundraiser at the Albertson’s off Swisher Road on Saturday and will continue to hold fundraisers periodically throughout the year.

Katie Voss, a three-year-old Grapevine resident, was noticeably excited to give the rabbits a fond farewell.

“Rabbits go really fast,” Voss said. “And also, they have really big ears!”