Today I found and picked up a cottontail rabbit on the side of the road. She was very fresh and had probably only been hit a few hours (if that) before I found her. I immediately noticed her lower abdomen was big and round. When I got home to work on her, I quickly found these two. These are only the second and third fetuses I have ever found in an animal that I worked with. One of the fetuses has a broken leg, and the mother’s spine was badly broken with slight damage to her skull. I am deeply saddened and affected by these deaths. I always warn others to watch the roads and slow down for all animals when driving. If an animal is hit, it is harmed/killed, but it’s also possible that it’s not the only life lost. These two will never have a chance to live, and whoever hit the mother kept going, possibly ignoring the rabbit and leaving her in the road. I am preserving these fetuses together, along with the mother so the family will “live” on, and be cherished and loved for as long as I am alive.♥
(***Please do not tag any of my photos of dead animals with “dead shit” or anything similarly disrespectful. I too often see that on various posts, and I don’t find that amusing or kind. These are once living creatures who were killed because of human negligence, and although they are no longer living, they still deserve to be respected. Also, please do not remove any of my text. Their story belongs with their photos.)