The hoodie-wearing “hero” caught on video rescuing a rabbit from the California wildfires may have actually made things worse for the poor critter.

Local animal experts warn that any wildlife spotted near a blaze should be left alone — especially desert cottontails like the ones common to Southern California.

This is due to the fact that they are still giving birth to litters around this time of year and are typically keeping them safe underground in their burrows, according to Live Science.

So in reality, while the video of the rabbit rescue is heartwarming, some say it should really serve as an example of what not to do when you spot an animal near the flames.

“If you encounter a wild animal in our neighborhood, leave it alone,” California Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told SFGate back in October as wildfires were raging in Northern California.

“Fire or no fire, just let the animals be,” he said.

The comments were in response to a Facebook post going around at the time asking local residents to provide water and shelter for any wildlife that shows up in their yards.

“Fire is something animals have to deal with constantly,” Tira explained.

Furthermore, cottontails and other desert creatures are known to regularly run near the flames of a wildfire — to find areas where they can pass through safely, Live Science reports.

Researcher E.V. Komarek discovered this in the 1960s while documenting animal behavior during wildfires.

“Frequently, we have seen cotton rats run across the line of fire, apparently finding a weak spot in it, and return to the smoking burn without injury,” Komarek wrote in a 1969 paper, “Fire and Animal Behavior.”

According to the US Forest Service, wildfires actually tend to kill very few animals — with most going underground to protect themselves.

Komarek did note, though, that “under certain circumstances, in certain types of cover, they are occasionally singed or killed.”