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How do you control Rabbits (without shooting)?
- Thread starter Peter Aawen
- Start date
No Dingoes around here where we are in the Adelaide Hills any more, probably haven't been any for at least a century now - in fact, there's not too many left on the other side of the Dingo fence in South Oz either, but that's a loooong way North of here! Not too many feral dogs around these parts either, and virtually no cats, for the reasons mentioned in my earlier posts. All of the domestic dogs around are so sick of the bloody rabbits they can't even be bothered to bark at them any more, let alone chase them &/or eat them! And the majority of the Owls we still have living in the Hills are tiny, they're basically smaller than week old rabbit kits when the owls are fully grown, so they don't really have much, if any, impact on the rabbit numbers, mainly cos they tend to prefer to eat mice, small reptiles, &/or insects, but those numbers are dropping cos the rabbits have eaten all the food they live on! Plus, all the bigger 'birds of prey' are already so well fed &/or stuffed that they're almost beyond flying, while just about every female rabbit has another litter of maybe 7-12 rabbits every month and a bit, and generally, something well over half of each of those litters will start breeding themselves in about 7-8 weeks or so!! Think MASSIVELY EXPONENTIAL growth in the rabbit numbers, and you MIGHT start to get close to how rapidly the rabbit population is booming here - and even if we still had any real predator populations left (but we don't!) all of the 'natural predators' combined basically don't stand a chance of keeping up with the numbers of rabbits atm, let alone getting ahead of their population growth! 
Mind you, when it comes to 'natural predators' for the rabbits these days, I'd suggest that the biggest impact on the adult rabbit population atm is the motor vehicle (hey, didja see what I did there?! Impact, from cars, huh?!
), and even cars only have an impact on the rabbits that are either too slow or too stupid to get off the bloody road when a car comes along... altho the rabbit numbers are beginning to get close to seeing rabbits being forced onto the roadways simply due to the numbers of the pesky things that are around!! They aren't yet quite so bad that cars are regularly skidding (or 'hydroplaning') on squished rabbits like they have in years past, but there's getting to be more on the roadways each day and I reckon it's only a matter of time. There's no longer too many drivers who'll even bother to TRY to dodge them, most just plow on thru! 
The 'authorities' are telling us that at this time last year, we had record breaking numbers of rabbits around, apparently the greatest rabbit population we'd seen in the decades since the various disease controls were introduced; only this year already, because the season has been so much better for them/their breeding, there's plenty of vegetation for them to eat, and because the wild rabbit population at large is developing an increasing immunity to the various introduced diseases thru breeding with domesticated & vaccinated rabbits, producing immune litters that then go feral, the rabbit numbers are already well beyond last years numbers and the environmental conditions look like remaining ideal for their population to continue to boom for quite a few months &/or years to come!!
I've tried sprays and powders and cayenne pepper and pretty much everything else within reason that's been suggested here, but nothing has worked much beyond a day or so - and mixing it up, swapping and changing the method of choice frequently &/or regularly/irregularly doesn't work either, there's apparently enough rabbits around that've already become acquainted to or immune to each method that when all the others see them chowing down on anything green, they send out the word and within moments, hundreds descend upon my poor lawn en masse! BTW, that means not just 'tens' of rabbits, or even 'a hundred' rabbits, it means 'hundredS' of rabbits!! It seems that the only things that're likely to have any significant impact on their numbers now is if/when the rabbit population grows so large that they eat everything out and they start to starve; or we have another drought and all the vegetation dies off &/or gets eaten out!!
Mind you, when it comes to 'natural predators' for the rabbits these days, I'd suggest that the biggest impact on the adult rabbit population atm is the motor vehicle (hey, didja see what I did there?! Impact, from cars, huh?!
), and even cars only have an impact on the rabbits that are either too slow or too stupid to get off the bloody road when a car comes along... altho the rabbit numbers are beginning to get close to seeing rabbits being forced onto the roadways simply due to the numbers of the pesky things that are around!! They aren't yet quite so bad that cars are regularly skidding (or 'hydroplaning') on squished rabbits like they have in years past, but there's getting to be more on the roadways each day and I reckon it's only a matter of time. There's no longer too many drivers who'll even bother to TRY to dodge them, most just plow on thru! The 'authorities' are telling us that at this time last year, we had record breaking numbers of rabbits around, apparently the greatest rabbit population we'd seen in the decades since the various disease controls were introduced; only this year already, because the season has been so much better for them/their breeding, there's plenty of vegetation for them to eat, and because the wild rabbit population at large is developing an increasing immunity to the various introduced diseases thru breeding with domesticated & vaccinated rabbits, producing immune litters that then go feral, the rabbit numbers are already well beyond last years numbers and the environmental conditions look like remaining ideal for their population to continue to boom for quite a few months &/or years to come!!
I've tried sprays and powders and cayenne pepper and pretty much everything else within reason that's been suggested here, but nothing has worked much beyond a day or so - and mixing it up, swapping and changing the method of choice frequently &/or regularly/irregularly doesn't work either, there's apparently enough rabbits around that've already become acquainted to or immune to each method that when all the others see them chowing down on anything green, they send out the word and within moments, hundreds descend upon my poor lawn en masse! BTW, that means not just 'tens' of rabbits, or even 'a hundred' rabbits, it means 'hundredS' of rabbits!! It seems that the only things that're likely to have any significant impact on their numbers now is if/when the rabbit population grows so large that they eat everything out and they start to starve; or we have another drought and all the vegetation dies off &/or gets eaten out!!
Gwolf
Well-known member
Eventually, Mother Nature will find a way to balance the system again, if you just wait and watch, but you really may not like what Mother Nature comes up with as a solution.
A possibility would be a specialized adaptation of what was originally the domestic house cat. Now some of the feral cats have already increased in size up over 30 pounds, and not longer showing any signs of ever being domesticated. With unlimited food supply and further adaptation Mother Nature may have an answer to the over-supply of rabbits, but the new predator might be a very fast, and very dangerous large cat never before seen. Humans created a nitch, left it open, and now it could be filled with something that would even hunt any dingos left after it eats all the free, and available rabbit protein. Look at the difference in dog breeds from tiny to huge just developed in a few thousand years by humans and imagine what Mother Nature can do with well fed and well armed cats.
On the other hand it could be something as small as a virus that humans had no input in the developement of or control of once it spreads. If it is put in motion by Mother Nature, there may not be any way to control which species it may affect in the end.
A possibility would be a specialized adaptation of what was originally the domestic house cat. Now some of the feral cats have already increased in size up over 30 pounds, and not longer showing any signs of ever being domesticated. With unlimited food supply and further adaptation Mother Nature may have an answer to the over-supply of rabbits, but the new predator might be a very fast, and very dangerous large cat never before seen. Humans created a nitch, left it open, and now it could be filled with something that would even hunt any dingos left after it eats all the free, and available rabbit protein. Look at the difference in dog breeds from tiny to huge just developed in a few thousand years by humans and imagine what Mother Nature can do with well fed and well armed cats.
On the other hand it could be something as small as a virus that humans had no input in the developement of or control of once it spreads. If it is put in motion by Mother Nature, there may not be any way to control which species it may affect in the end.
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Calimusjohn
Active member
Has the local council considered holding a "Thomas Austin Day?" Mr. Austin imported rabbits from Europe in 1869. Perhaps they could pay a bounty on rabbits "harvested" on Austin's Day. Harp seals were decimated by men wielding clubs. Just trying to think outside the box. As pointed out, Mother Nature will eventually balance things out.
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