During my morning walk, I spotted something tiny curled up by the trail, shivering in the cold. At first, I thought it was a newborn puppy—pink-skinned, eyes shut, barely moving. Its faint squeaks pulled me in, and instinct took over. I scooped the fragile little creature into my scarf, knowing it wouldn’t survive long alone.
Rushing home, I set it in a shoebox lined with towels and turned on a lamp for warmth. Its chest rose and fell weakly. I called the local wildlife rescue center, who urged me to bring it in immediately.
At Heart of the Forest Rescue Center, staff examined the tiny animal under bright lights. One of them finally said, “Whatever this is… it’s not a puppy.”
The mystery sparked a social media frenzy. People guessed everything—kitten, squirrel, bunny, even a miniature alien. Hours later, experts revealed the truth: it was a domestic rabbit, barely a few days old. Domestic rabbits rarely survive in the wild, born blind, hairless, and helpless. Willow—the name the center gave her—had been abandoned or lost.
Remarkably, earlier that morning, a local dog walker reported seeing their golden retriever carrying something tiny in its mouth near the same spot. Somehow, Willow had been rescued twice before I even found her.
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