Stay or Leave

Should it freeze in place or flee is the question rabbits must decide quickly. When danger is perceived, rabbits either stay motionless, hoping the predator doesn’t see them, or quickly hop to safety. Well, one time, Rusty did both.

On September 6th, 2025, Rusty let me get within 3 feet of him near the edge of the driveway. Yay, this Eastern Cottontail let me get within 3 feet of him again! That would enable me to take tight close-ups of him, but that was a short lived event. Earlier I noticed about six to eight boys, ages eight to ten, were loudly running around the neighborhood. Suddenly yelling, the boys turned into my driveway and proceeded to scamper up it. That caused Rusty to flee and me to run to the top of my driveway. I screamed repeatedly at the boys to leave, that this was my home, my property, not their’s. They halted as soon as they heard me. A father soon drove up. He ordered them to leave and return to a house. They did. Later I learned they were attending a party.

When the boys left my premises, I turned back toward my yard. Unexpectedly, Rusty was frozen yards away, poised to flee. See this post’s photo. Instead of escaping into another yard, he decided to stay. To flee or not to flee, he decided to do both. It appeared that he watched me scream at the boys, defending him. During the summer he and other bunnies witnessed me yell at people who let their dogs onto our property. Many times I softly told rabbits to remain calm while dogs and loud walkers passed by. 

Left: Rusty watching me after fleeing from the boys. Right: Rusty’s profile.

During the summer he witnessed me yell at people that let their dogs onto our property and calmly talk to him and other rabbits whenever dogs and noisy people walked by. After I took this photo, Rusty slowly hopped to one of his favorite spots, ate some grass and sat down for a few minutes.

BTW, as much as Rusty and Daily trusted me, if I moved suddenly they’d be startled and flee. That’s good. Their instinct for self- preservation was intact. They’re prey animals. Eastern Cottontails are not pets. They cannot be domesticated. But, I think they accepted me because I’ve been a part of their environment since they were very young and I never tried to harm them.

M