Tuesday, July 2, 2019,

This is an adult Eastern Cottontail Rabbit that I saw at Frank Melville Park. Check out its ears in these two photographs. Look at how tattered both of them are. These don’t appear to be fresh wounds but something very nearly made a meal of this guy sometime during its lifetime. Eastern Cottontails have an average lifespan of only three years in the wild. By way of contrast, the very same species can live to be up to eight years in captivity. It’s a hard life in the wild and these pics are an example of just how tough it is for any wild animal.

I don’t know what manner of critter that attacked this rabbit, be it a fox, or hawk, or even your neighbor’s cat or dog, but the predators of rabbits are many and they take their toll. This guy is a lucky survivor. JK