Much like Mr. McGregor in Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s tales, gardeners across Arvada seem to be getting more and more visits from Peter Rabbit and his pals this year.
What are usually considered harmless hares have become furry foes for many residents as rabbits are wreaking havoc in gardens and yards across the city, sparking an increase in calls to the city of Arvada’s Animal Management Bureau.
“Mainly they love to eat on matured plants. They don’t see they are eating plants that cost $100 to plant. They see it as good food,” said Becky Robison, animal management supervisor for Arvada. “That’s mainly what people are experiencing. If you build it, they will come — if it’s a good source of food for them.”
Robison said two factors are responsible for the increased cottontail population and their propensity for nibbling on people’s gardens.
First, the population of rabbits’ natural predator, the fox, has decreased because of an outbreak of mange last year. Second, there are more rabbits.
Warm weather means there is more food for rabbits to eat, which allows both the survival rate and birth rate to increase, a common occurrence in years when La Nina weather conditions are in effect, Robison said.
Wendy Forbes, communications manager for Arvada, and Robison outlined steps residents can take to decrease damage done by rabbits.
To keep rabbits out of a yard or a specific area, residents can build a rabbit-proof fence made of woven wire or poultry netting 2 to 3 feet high.
To prevent rabbits from burrowing underneath a fence, residents can attach a 3-foot-wide, heavy-gauge wire mesh screen to the bottom of the fence that reaches 2 feet out onto the ground. The outer edges of the screen can be secured with garden staples and covered with rock mulch.
Fences are the most effective way to prevent rabbits from devouring flowers and plants, while commercial tree wrap or plastic tree guards can be used to keep rabbits from eating trees.
“Habitat modification and exclusion from the area you don’t want them in is the best thing to do,” Robison said. “Especially in neighborhoods with covenants with HOAs, that might not always be doable, so you have to come up with other ways to scare them away.”
In some cases, if fences are not a viable option, residents can use chemical repellents to keep rabbits from nibbling greens.
-However, repellents should not be used on plants that people will eat.
Inflatable owls and snakes, eyespot balloons and even pinwheels can scare rabbits out of yards and gardens.
“There is a really cool device that I really like called the Scarecrow. It’s a motion detector, and it squirts water at them so that’s been really beneficial,” Robison said.
She said this is probably the worst year for rabbits in her 22-year tenure, but she expects the population will return to normal rates.