U.S. Marine nurses orphan bunnies back to health after rescuing them from military barracks

Daily Mail

Source Daily Mail

A U.S. Marine medic, previously stationed in Afghanistan, was able to use his field skills back home… when he came to the rescue of four orphaned rabbits.

Joshua Bisnar, a Naval Hospital Corpsman, found the helpless bunnies alongside their dead mother while he was raking the volleyball court at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California, where he was stationed with a Marine Corps unit.

He scooped up the animals and carefully placed them in a makeshift home – consisting of a box with a few old shirts to make it more comfortable.

To feed them, he researched a formula mixed with probiotic he found at Petco pet store and purchased four small droppers to administer the formula into the hungry mouths three times a day.

And clearly a fan of guitar players, he named them James (after Jimi Hendrix), Steven, Raymond and Vaughan (after Stevie Ray Vaughan).

Bisnar said: ‘I would feed them at about 6am before work, 12pm at lunch and 6pm.

‘I was so scared to go to work or leave them alone, I should have given them to a wildlife sanctuary but I was scared that the car ride would be too traumatic but It was amazing how fast they grew up.

‘They got out of that ugly newborn phase and started looking like fluffy little bunnies after one week

‘Soon they were hopping around their modified cage I made them.’

He added: ‘It was about the second week that they started jumping against the side of the box at about 2-3am trying to wake me up for another feeding. That’s when it went to four times a day.

‘It was adorable. I always knew when they were hungry because they would all bunch up and look up at me during the day when I walked by and when I would put my hand in the box, they would all run up and fight to jump into my hand for feeding.’

Mr Bisnar started weaning them on to arugula (rocket salad) and slowly incorporated some of the natural foods found in southern California – including dandelions and grass.

Then one day, the combat medic went back to his room to discover there was one just sitting in the hallway looking at him – and he knew it was time to let them go.

Mr Bisnar said: ‘I’m originally from Newport Beach, California, so the next weekend I brought them to a wildlife conservation place off of PCH in Huntington Beach.

‘The lady that worked there was amazed about how a Military member from Camp Pendleton raised four bunnies with a 100 percent survival rate.

‘I could have got into a lot of trouble having animals in the barracks, and even more trouble considering Camp Pendleton is very strict on the handling of animals.

‘I grew up around animals, my mother is a dog groomer and has always taught me to look after and care for the little guys.

‘In Afghanistan, I was always getting in trouble for playing with kittens and petting the working dogs too much.

‘I was sad to drop them off because I felt like their dad – after all the time I spent raising and nurturing them.’


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