Anchorage Press Vol. 15, Ed. 20 May 18 - May 24 2006

Like bunnies

You've probably seen them. They scamper around gravel parking lots downtown, nest in Spenard and munch sprouting vegetable and flower gardens all over town. Rabbits already seem to be everywhere in Anchorage. And naturally, they're multiplying.

These rabbits aren't long-eared, large-footed wild snowshoe hares - they're domesticated rabbits, the cute, cuddly kind that some possibly well meaning but ultimately uninformed parents give their kids as Easter gifts. Biologist Rick Sinnott with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates there are “easily hundreds, if not several thousand” of them roaming Anchorage now.

Anchorage's rabbit problem most likely stems from people leaving their pet rabbits outside, perhaps believing they will be able to fend for themselves (they can't). Or perhaps they realize that the cute little bunny they brought home actually requires lots of time and care, and can live 10 years.

A rabbit has a gestation period of about 30 days, which means a female can give birth again before her first litter is even weaned. Sinnott calls rabbits “one of the most invasive animals” in the world. “Australia is sort of the classic case where some number escaped and now there's millions of them,” he said, “and they have ruined the grassland habitat.”

The biggest concern in Anchorage is that feral rabbits could transmit diseases, Sinnott said. “They could transfer a disease to the wild population - I don't think that's going to happen, but if it did it could be bad.” Another problem, he said, is that formerly domesticated rabbits compete for food with wild hares in the area. And, he said, feral rabbits “do dig, unlike our snowshoe hares, and they can dig under people's foundations.”

It's illegal to release domesticated animals into the wild, but many people don't realize that, or don't care, Sinnott said. “It's hard to find someone who'll admit to it. You hear it in casual conversation, but when the badges come out you hear, 'I didn't actually let them go - my boyfriend did' or 'my neighbor did.'”

Anchorage's Animal Care and Control Center takes in stray or unwanted rabbits. They're lumped together in the shelter's computer system with other small mammals such as ferrets and guinea pigs, said spokesperson Maria Martin, so there's no way to tell exactly how many rabbits pass through the shelter. As of Tuesday, May 16, there were nine rabbits at the shelter: two were owner-surrendered and seven were strays.

Shelter rabbits are available for adoption for $5. Although Martin says the shelter recommends that people spay or neuter pet rabbits, it is not stipulated in the adoption contract, as it is with dogs and cats.

According to Martin, Animal Control doesn't respond to reports of loose rabbits. They're too quick, Martin said, and Animal Control officers were spending too much time trying to capture them. In fact, the shelter, on Bragaw Street, just south of Tudor Road, has apparently feral rabbits that roam the grounds. “I'll spot one while we're taking out the dogs for walks,” Martin said.

Both Martin and Sinnott say that a large percentage of the city's roaming rabbits are feral - the offspring of domesticated rabbits that survived, by their own wits or because people were feeding them, long enough to procreate.

Feral animals are not adoptable and are euthanized if they are brought to the shelter, Martin said. The majority of stray rabbits that are brought to the shelter are litters of baby rabbits, which still have adoption potential, she said. Rabbits (and any other animals) must be handleable in order to be adoptable, Martin said; if they're skittish or anxious they're classified as feral.

Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Control doesn't see many rabbits, and the ones that are brought in are usually pets. Don Young, Fairbanks biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, said he's not aware of any problem with feral rabbits in Fairbanks. - Lori McAllister