Baby bunnies come to COSI through a partnership with the Ohio Wildlife Center!
Rabbits can produce 2-5 litters of baby bunnies each year, making them one of the most common mammals in Ohio. While it’s always enjoyable to watch an Eastern Cottontail hop through our neighborhood, the heavy prevalence of rabbits means that unfortunately, there are abandoned rabbit nests and baby bunnies found all over our Columbus parks and neighborhoods, as well.
Usually when one finds a baby bunny, they call the Ohio Wildlife Center (OWC) who then helps nurture and rehabilitate the bunnies. This all happens behind the scenes.
But now, the OWC is partnering with COSI staff, vets, and interns to give us the opportunity to see how these bunnies are rehabilitated and released in the wild! This will help free up space at the OWC so that they can focus on more critical cases.
Along with COSI familiar favorite animals, like Archie the Owl, the infamous rat who plays basketball, and the various snakes among other native species, COSI has new animals to showcase at their 11am daily shows. Nigel the Possum is a new guest that will make special appearances, as well as the baby bunnies that COSI is caring for.
The bunnies can’t be touched, so they are shown on a giant live stream on a screen on stage, where the host asks the caretakers questions, and the COSI guests can catch a glimpse of how these bunnies are fed and nurtured back to health until they’re released in our local parks. The guests are also able to ask the caretakers questions through this live-feed demonstration, too!
According to COSI, they are also excited to feature other native species in our area on their live streams throughout the winter.
The baby bunny program is available starting now, at 11am daily on the main stage, until bunny season is over, which is usually the end of September.
You can grab your tickets to COSI here, or even catch a live stream feed of the baby bunnies here!
Want to read more? Check out our print publications, (614) Magazine and Stock & Barrel. Learn where you can find a free copy of our new August issue here!
