Abandoned to the Wild: Wendeline’s Story
Earlier today, our director David drove out to the Campsie Hills to look for a rabbit.
We had been contacted the day before by a member of the public. Their dad had noticed the same rabbit on several occasions whilst fishing in the area. Driving along the Tak-Ma-Doon Road, between Carron Bridge and Kilsyth, he had stopped to investigate. To his surprise, the rabbit was not running from him. She was approaching him.
By the time David arrived, a local family were already in the field next to one of the forest areas, gently trying to catch her. They had also seen her on several occasions, had appealed for owners through local Facebook groups, and had spoken to a nearby homeowner. No one had come forward. Concerned for her safety, they had come back to try and help.
David had brought equipment with him, but very little of it was needed. A handful of rabbit nuggets scattered on the grass was enough. She came straight up to eat, and was lifted gently into a pet carrier.
We have given her the rescue nickname Wendeline, a feminine name of German and Dutch origin meaning “wanderer” or “traveller”. It seemed fitting.
She is now safely back at The Bunny Bothy. But her story raises serious questions, and we cannot let them pass without comment.
Wendeline’s Condition
Wendeline arrived covered in ticks. They were heaviest around her ears, eyes, and nose, with multiple scabbed areas across her body and face indicating earlier bites that had already detached or fed and dropped away.
Aside from being slightly underweight, she is in better condition than we might reasonably have expected. Given the area she was found in (open hillside and forest, with no shortage of foxes, birds of prey, and other predators), the truth is that she has been extraordinarily lucky. Most domestic rabbits released into that environment do not survive long enough to be found.
She is not microchipped. There is no realistic prospect of identifying her previous owner.
Let Us Be Clear: This Is Not a Solution. This Is a Crime.
The location matters. Wendeline was not found in someone’s garden or behind a row of houses. She was found on a quiet rural road, beside open forest, miles from the nearest residential area. She did not get there by escaping a hutch and hopping a few streets. Someone took her there, and someone left her there.
Releasing a domestic rabbit into the wild is illegal under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. It does not matter how kindly someone tells themselves they are giving the rabbit “a chance”, “her freedom”, or “a natural life”. Domestic rabbits are not equipped to survive in the wild. They are slower, more visible, less wary of predators, and entirely dependent on the food, water, and shelter their owners normally provide. Abandoning them in the countryside is not a release. It is abandonment by another name, and it is a criminal offence.
This is the second case of abandonment Beloved Rabbits has handled in barely a month. Vector was left in a cardboard box outside The Bunny Bothy on the evening of 2nd April. Wendeline was found today, almost one month to the day later. Two rabbits, two very different methods, but the same underlying decision: someone chose abandonment over asking for help.
We know we are not unique in this. Charities across the country are reporting the same pattern. It has to stop.
The Hidden Health Risks: Why Ticks Matter
A heavy tick burden is not just unpleasant for a rabbit. It carries serious welfare implications, and some of those implications are directly relevant to our current vaccination work.
Ticks and other biting insects are among the primary routes of transmission for two of the most dangerous viral diseases facing rabbits in the UK:
Myxomatosis, which is overwhelmingly fatal in unvaccinated rabbits, and causes prolonged and visible suffering in the days before death.
Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD1 and RHD2), which can kill within hours and often without warning.
Both diseases are at their highest seasonal risk during spring and summer. Both are present in the wild rabbit population. A domestic rabbit that has spent days, possibly weeks, living in habitat shared with wild rabbits, with biting insects feeding on her throughout, is at significantly elevated risk of having been exposed.
Wendeline will receive her full vaccination cover as part of our standard intake protocol. She will also be monitored carefully over the coming weeks for any signs of viral illness or tick-borne complications, alongside a careful, vet-supported plan to remove the ticks safely. Removing ticks without proper technique can cause its own welfare and infection problems, so we will not be rushing this.
This is exactly why our Spring & Summer Vaccinations 2026 campaign matters. Every rabbit who comes through our door, whether surrendered, abandoned, or rescued, receives full annual vaccination cover. It is not optional, and it is not negotiable. But it is not free either. Cases like Wendeline’s are a reminder that rescue work and vaccination work are not two separate things. They are the same thing.
If you have been thinking about supporting the campaign, this would be a very good moment.
What We Don’t Yet Know
There is also a great deal we cannot yet tell about Wendeline, and that uncertainty has real consequences for how we plan her care.
We have no reliable way to know how old she is. Estimating age in an adult rabbit, without veterinary records to draw on, is genuinely difficult to do with any precision. That matters more than it might first sound. Age affects how we anticipate her medical needs, how we interpret her behavioural patterns, how we plan socialisation, and how we eventually match her with the right adopter and companion.
We also have to work, for the time being, on the assumption that she is unneutered. There is no easy way to confirm this without veterinary history or invasive medical investigation, and we will not subject her to unnecessary procedures simply to settle the question. Equally, we cannot be certain that she has never had a litter before, although there are no current indicators to suggest she has been a mother previously.
Working from those assumptions, and given that she has likely spent days, possibly weeks, in close proximity to wild rabbits, we also have to consider the possibility that she may now be pregnant. There are no clear signs at this early stage, and we cannot confirm or rule it out yet, but it is something we will be watching for closely.
If she is pregnant, the welfare implications are significant. An underweight doe of unknown age, carrying a litter sired by a wild rabbit, after a sustained period of stress, parasite burden, and potential viral exposure, is not a gentle situation for anyone involved. We will manage it as carefully and compassionately as we can, but it is a stark reminder of why responsible neutering matters, and why “letting nature take its course” by releasing a rabbit outdoors is not the kindness it might be made to sound.
There Is a Right Way to Ask for Help
We say this every time, and we will keep saying it.
If you are struggling with your rabbit, for any reason at all, please contact us. Whether the issue is financial, medical, behavioural, housing-related, or simply that life has changed in ways you did not see coming, there is almost always a better option than abandonment.
Beloved Rabbits operates a structured rehoming service. We may not always be able to help immediately, because space, fosters, and funding are all finite, but we will work with you to find an appropriate route. We do not judge people for being in difficult circumstances. We do judge the decision to leave a domestic animal on a hillside.
You can find out more about our rehoming process at https://belovedrabbits.org/rescue, or get in touch with our team directly.
Wendeline’s Future
Wendeline is safe. She has a long way to go: ticks to clear, weight to put on, vaccinations to receive, and a number of unknowns about her history, age, and reproductive status that will only resolve themselves with time and careful veterinary input. But she is in the right place now, and she will receive everything she needs.
Whoever left her on the Tak-Ma-Doon Road did not give her a chance. The family who refused to walk away from her, the member of the public who picked up the phone, and the vets, volunteers, and supporters who fund the work we do, did. We are grateful to all of them.
Wendeline made it. The next one might not.
🐇 To support Wendeline’s care, and the vaccination of every rabbit in our charge this season, please consider donating to our Spring & Summer Vaccinations 2026 campaign. If you need help with your own rabbit, please visit https://belovedrabbits.org/rescue or get in touch with our team.
