We lost a rabbit today.

My wife and daughter went out to check on the baby rabbits this afternoon.  I was checking for chicken eggs when they called me over.  My wife said that there was only 1 black rabbit (there had been two).  I looked all through the nest and it wasn't there.  We literally lost it.  We checked the ground around the hutch and it was nowhere to be found.  My daughter was visibly upset, but she stayed calm.  The only thing we could figure was that the momma rabbit ate the baby.  I've read that rabbits sometimes do that when they get scared. 

I went to get my camera and made a grim discovery.  I walked up the steps to the back porch and the baby rabbit was laying right there.  We aren't sure when it happened, but we're pretty sure that the dog put it there.  What we'll never know, and can only speculate about, is how the dog got the rabbit. 

I picked up the rabbit and called the dog over.  She looked at it.  Then I put it down.  She sniffed it and poked it with her foot.  Then she looked at me.  She didn't run off with it, or try to play "keep away" like she does with her toys.  I think she brought it to us for help.  That still doesn't explain how she got it.  We could come up with only two explanations.  It crawled out of the nest, through the bars, fell to the ground and died.  Or it died in the nest and the momma rabbit disposed of it by putting it through the cage bars.  Either way it must have ended up on the ground outside of the hutch, where the dog found it. 

I'm not sure how all 3 of us came out the back door and didn't see it.  The dog must've put it there after we were in the yard.  None of us saw her do it though.  I wish she could talk and tell us what happened.