I guess they survived because periodically I would flush a young one out of some ground cover I was cutting but they never turned to wave HI at me or say thanks.......LOL!
I once took in what I thought at first was a wild rabbit that some neighborhood idiots (kids in their 20s) had chased into my backyard. The yard was thick with weeds and I was looking for it, when all of a sudden, I felt a slight pressure on my leg. It was the rabbit standing up on his/her hind legs against me. A day or so later I made him/her a little house in the basement with access to the yard through a flap I made in the basement window.