Rabbits, rabbits everywhere

With so many yard rabbits this year, some homeowners have noted a corresponding increase in predator sightings in the city.

Did your bean plants disappear overnight? Were the carrots suddenly found topless? Spill a tear, did you, over ravaged roses? You aren't alone. Crimes like these, and more, occurred far and wide this year, and the perpetrators are well known.

Rabbits.

But this is not just a Peter-Cottontail-in-McGregor's-garden tale -- it's more like Pete and Pauline plus 80.

"Most mornings as I head to work I wind up 'herding' a rabbit or two down the alley with my car, or avoiding them on the street," said Theresa Rooney of Minneapolis. "I have nearly tripped over them."

Where there are lots of rabbits, there are plenty of nibbled gardens, girdled trees and angry homeowners asking: Why so many rabbits, and where will it all end?

Some have a hunch. They point to the weather: Rabbits are increasing because climate is changing and our winters are getting milder. They might be onto something.

Winters have been milder, according to the State Climatology Office. Rabbits might be getting in an extra litter under such conditions. That means more offspring starting down the reproductive path. Soon you have a bunny explosion.

Starting in spring, a rabbit can have a litter of up to eight kits about every month. Females mate again, often within hours of giving birth. With offspring mating the same summer they're born, in turn producing up to eight babies a month, it's easy to get knee-deep in rabbits -- and trouble. (They're looking for food, after all, not just mates.)

But bunny numbers, up or down, are not just about the weather. Rabbits are meals on the hop. Just about everything eats rabbit, said Bryan Lueth, a Department of Natural Resources urban wildlife specialist. You might not think many predators -- owls, hawks, fox -- are in or around your yard. Think again. Predators go where the food is.

"This year, I have had more fox calls than I can remember, and regular coyote calls," Leuth said. "Maybe it's because there are so many rabbits out there."

When a red fox moved in on Lynda Forbes' back yard in Brooklyn Park, nary a rabbit was seen. The fox stalked the yard and lay on the pool deck sunning itself, probably full of rabbit.

"One year we see more rabbits, the next year more fox sightings," said homeowner Renay Leone of Victoria. "This happens to be a fox year. Isn't it great how nature keeps things in balance?"

That's exactly what Jennifer Menken, a naturalist at the University of Minnesota Bell Museum, would expect.

"Rabbit populations go up and down," she said. "Locally, a neighborhood will have a spike and a drop." With bushes to hide in, grasses to feed upon and gardens of bunny delights, we create the perfect habitat for the cottontail rabbit, Menken said. Every year, some community is teeming with rabbits.

Still, fewer than one in 100 rabbits lives to its third year, experts say. In addition to their typical predators, disease, cars, lawn mowers and even the back-yard cat take their toll.

So the reason there are so many rabbits is: That's the way it is for now. It might not be so bad next year -- if you pray for owls.

Meanwhile, Menken's advice for the harassed homeowner? Fencing. Put up tight, strong metal mesh about 12 to 18 inches high and, because rabbits dig, bury it at least 3 inches. Go higher and deeper for the determined rabbit.

Others have suggested commercial deterrents such as Liquid Fence, blood meal from the nursery or cat hair sprinkled around the garden, hot pepper spray or a mixture of beaten egg with water in a 1-quart spray bottle.

If all else fails, there's always hasenpfeffer (rabbit stew). There's no season for the troublesome rabbit. It can be taken anytime. Just don't shoot 'em in town, Elmer. Use a trap.

By KAREN YOUSO, Star Tribune

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