By: Ashley Bergeron
Staff-Writer
Since it’s the year of the rabbit, you may be wondering about our fuzzy friends here in Indiana.
Rabbits are under the order Lagomorpha. This order has two families: Leporidae and Ochotonidae. The family Leporidae consists of rabbits and hares, while the Ochotonidae consists of pikas.
It’s necessary to differentiate rabbits from hares. Rabbits are smaller and have shorter ears than hares.
There is one species of rabbit native to the IU South Bend area: Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). Since their tail’s underside is white, it resembles a cotton ball. The average lifespan of an Eastern Cottontail is 11 months, but it is possible for a rabbit to live as long as five years.
The range of the Eastern Cottontail includes the eastern United States, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern Canada and South America.
Rabbits are herbivores and eat a variety of vegetation. Some of the food that Eastern Cottontails eat are clovers, apples, rose, sumac, the bark of sprouts and seedlings and many more.
Rabbits are prey animals; some of their predators include cats and birds of prey. Due to this, rabbits are always on high alert.
Rabbit hunting is legal in both Indiana and Michigan. Each state has different rules for hunting.
In Michigan, rabbit hunting season is from Sept. 15 to March 31. Hunters are required to have a base hunting license and are only allowed to have five rabbits in their bag per day and ten overall in their possession.
In Indiana, rabbit hunting season is from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28. Certain clothing requirements must be met while going out hunting.
The hunting guides for each state are filled with information that is important for any hunter. Michigan’s guide is called Michigan Hunting Digest, and Indiana’s guide is called Indiana Hunting and Trapping Guide.
If you don’t want rabbits in your yard, there are ways to keep them away without hurting them. Rabbits don’t like onions or garlic, so planting them can be a rabbit repellent. Fences are also an old-book trick that keeps rabbits out of yards – just ensure that there aren’t any openings a rabbit can fit through.
Another way to keep rabbits away is to mow your lawn often and keep plants trimmed. This will result in there being less food for the rabbits, sending them to look somewhere else.
There are currently 22 out of 63 rabbit species that are near threatened or critically endangered. While the Eastern Cottontail’s conversation status is “least concern,” that does not mean that there should be no reason to worry.
Rabbit species such as the Pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), the Riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis), the Volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi) and many more are either at moderate-high to high risk. If you want to help the declining populations, here are some organizations you can check out: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Endangered Wildlife Trust, CapeNature, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Oakland Zoo.
Unfortunately, I could not find any organizations that talk about wild rabbits. However, there are organizations about domesticated rabbits. Some of these organizations are the Indiana House Rabbit Society and Bunny Brunch.
