A Simple Basement Chore Became a Colorado Wildlife Rescue

I have been cleaning out my basement for the past couple of weeks. Getting rid of unwanted things and removing the useless boxes has been a feeling of relief for both my wife and me.

Basement Spring Cleaning Took a Turn

Our dog, Radar, has also been hanging out down in the basement with us while we are doing the much-needed basement spring cleaning. Last night, I went down to the basement again at about 10 p.m. to put something in a storage tote. As any German Shepherd does, he followed suit and stuck by my side, but only for a moment.

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While I was around the corner, he got really quiet. I stopped what I was doing to investigate his actions. As I peered around the corner, I saw him transfixed at the egress window. I watched him for a moment, then called him over to me. He didn’t budge.
I figured that he was staring at his reflection in the window, but something was different this time around. I walked over and immediately saw what he was so focused on: three kits that had somehow leaped into the deep window well.

I called my wife downstairs and asked her to bring me my leather gloves, as a rescue mission had just become the number one priority. We ushered our dog up the stairs and closed the door. The mission had begun.

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Using a glove to retrieve the small bunnies, I grabbed the one that was closest to the window, only to have it flail and jump up my arm, over my shoulder, and into the basement. Panic ensued. Thankfully, most of the junk was removed from the basement, so cornering the frightened baby was not that difficult.

Three Baby Rabbits Rescued

It took a couple of minutes, but with my wife's quick thinking, we were able to corner it with a box and a storage tote. One bunny down, two to go. The other two babies were much easier to wrangle up, as they were pretty much frozen with fear.

We gathered all three kits into a storage tote, put the lid on it (we didn’t need another loose baby rabbit in the house), and took them outside. Mama was close by, waiting for the return of her babies. When we came outside, we set the storage tote down and gently ushered out the rescued baby rabbits.

Mom ran off for a bit, but quickly returned once we went inside. I watched the reunion through the bedroom window and was very happy that I had the intuition to take that one single box down to the basement that night. I am not sure how long they were down there, but I am happy I was able to pull off a wildlife rescue.