Shortly before midnight three years ago, the Department of Fish and Game received word that somebody had spotted a bear between Gee Street and Long Run Drive in the valley. The department\u2019s Regional Supervisor, Ryan Scott, and a coworker responded to the call. They weren\u2019t able to find the bear, but what they found instead was far stranger: feral domestic rabbits \u2014 a lot of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t see the bear we were looking for, but we saw a ton of rabbits all over the place,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWe were taken back by how many we saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Scott didn\u2019t view the rabbits, which are not native to the region, as cause for concern. It was late summer, and with winter only a few months away he figured that the problem would \u201cself correct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two years later, the Department of Fish and Game received another report of a bear in the same area. Stephanie Sell, a biologist with the department, responded this time. Like Scott, she was unable to find the reported bear but did find rabbits. Only this time there were even more. Sell recalled seeing at least 30 rabbits that night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was creepy how many there were,\u201d she said. \u201cI kind of had a flashback to \u2018The Shining.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The rabbit problem had not self corrected; it had escalated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Growing in leaps and bounds<\/strong><\/p>\n Nobody seems to know exactly where the rabbits came from, but most people who are familiar with the problem suspect that they originated near Glacier View Trailer Park. Valley residents and officials from Animal Control, Fish and Game and the Gastineau Humane Society all tell some variation of the same story. Apparently, somebody brought the animals to Juneau to keep as pets and \u2014 either intentionally or accidently \u2014 released them into the wild.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of immaterial at this point; they\u2019re everywhere now,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n In the months following Sell\u2019s discovery the rabbit population exploded. Though the full extent of the problem remains unknown, Sell estimates that \u201cupwards of a couple hundred\u201d rabbits now live in the area between Gee Street and Long Run Drive, which she calls \u201cground zero.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA female rabbit can breed every 30 days, so when they say \u2018breed like rabbits\u2019 it\u2019s for a reason,\u201d Sell said, explaining how the number of rabbits is growing so quickly. Rabbits can have as many as 14 babies per litter, and they become pregnant again within a day of giving birth.<\/p>\n So far, the rabbits haven\u2019t strayed far beyond \u201cground zero,\u201d but Sell worries that human interference has already begun to change this and will further exacerbate the problem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bunny trail<\/strong><\/p>\n This summer, Forest Service staff began reporting rabbit sightings at the glacier for the first time, which Sell says is quite troubling. John Neary, director of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, saw rabbits several different times, and his staff reported seeing them, too.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always wonder how many more there might be that you\u2019re not seeing,\u201d Neary said.<\/p>\n Neary and his staff only saw rabbits in the bus parking area near the visitor center, and it doesn\u2019t appear that they ventured much further before Fish and Game removed them. Neary suspects that somebody likely dumped the rabbits at the glacier thinking it would be a better home for them than in the Valley. This is certainly not the case, according to Neary and Sell.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re an invasive species,\u201d Neary said. \u201cPeople may not think of rabbits that way, but they will quickly become a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Due to high population density (relative to other areas in Juneau), the Valley isn\u2019t home to many wild animals, Sell said. This means that the rabbits, which she too identifies as an invasive species, are not a serious threat to most other species so long as they stay where they are. The glacier, on the other hand, is home to several native species of animal, including the Snowshoe Hare. If allowed to spread, the feral valley rabbits could end up competing for resources with the native hare population, which could have devastating consequences for it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want people moving them out of ground zero down there in the Valley,\u201d Sell said. \u201cThat\u2019s my main exclamation point. Don\u2019t spread the problem because we\u2019re eyes deep in this already.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shelter skelter<\/strong><\/p>\n The number of rabbits forfeited to the Gastineau Humane Society has been steadily increasing during the past few years, but this year the shelter was inundated with rabbits like never before, according to Animal Control officer Ben Peyerk. Between April and July of this year, the Humane Society took in more than 20 rabbits, and it spent more than $16,000 caring for them.<\/p>\n Matthew Musslewhite, the Gastineau Humane Society\u2019s executive director, said that the high cost of care for rabbits \u2014 which Peyerk described as \u201castronomical\u201d \u2014 is the result of two main factors: expensive vet bills and lengthy shelter stays. Because they are small and fragile, rabbits cost more to spay or neuter than dogs or cats, Musslewhite said. They aren\u2019t as popular, though, which means they stay in the shelter longer and cost more to care for. On average rabbits stay in the shelter for about 60 days before being adopted. One rabbit spent more than a year in the shelter, however.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be one thing if people were interesting in adopting them, but that\u2019s where a lot of the cost is,\u201d Musslewhite said. \u201cOur mission is not to be a holding spot; we want to be a temporary stay on the way to a new forever home.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, though, the number of rabbits is rapidly growing, and the Gastineau Humane Society, which is a no-kill shelter, has to spend \u201csignificantly more\u201d money per animal on rabbits than dogs or cats.<\/p>\n The shelter receives all of its funding through public support and shelter services, which include pet grooming and boarding. Musslewhite said he didn\u2019t know what percentage of the shelter\u2019s overall budget was being spent on rabbits. Regardless of how the numbers pencil out, though, he said the situation is frustrating<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re being burdened with the costs associated with someone abandoning domestic animals with exceptional reproductive capabilities, and it\u2019s only getting worse at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bad neighbors<\/strong><\/p>\n In August, Sandi Hicks, a resident of Portage Boulevard, contacted Animal Control to find out if the city had any plans for the rabbit problem. Though some of her neighbors like the rabbits \u2014 some people even provide them with food and shelter \u2014 the majority of her neighbors have been impacted in some way by the animals and would rather see them go, Hicks said.<\/p>\n The rabbits have eaten through her garden and her neighbors\u2019 gardens, a fact corroborated by the presence of rabbit fencing in the yards of residents in the area. What started years before as a couple dozen rabbits has grown into an infestation that she said is now more than just an inconvenience.<\/p>\n \u201cAt any time there would be six rabbits in my yard,\u201d she said. \u201cThey would be repopulating themselves in my driveway.\u201d<\/p>\n On Aug. 3 she wrote an email to Animal Control saying that the population doubled in the previous month and that the rabbits had become a \u201chazard.\u201d Hicks wrote that her 10-year-old Karelian Bear Dog named Rikku was agitated by the rabbits to the point that she had to take Rikku to other parts of the city to walk her. Not a month later, Hicks had Rikku outside on a leash while she was mowing the law. Rikku saw a couple of rabbits in the neighbor\u2019s lawn and broke her tether to chase them. While in pursuit, Rikku tore her ACL and meniscus, which cost more than $3,000 to repair. She still walks with a limp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vets told me they\u2019d never seen a dog with this dramatic of an ACL tear, and I told them it\u2019s these bloody rabbits,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n Hicks spoke about the rabbit problem during the public-comment portion of the Sept. 21 Assembly meeting. She said that the city was partially at fault for her dog\u2019s injury because it had not taken action to quell the growing rabbit population despite her warnings. She asked for the city to foot the bill, but later she said that was just to prove a point.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really want the money,\u201d she said. \u201cI just wanted them to know that this problem is not only costing people their gardens anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fellowship of the rabbits<\/strong><\/p>\n One day after Hicks sent her email to Animal Control, Sell contacted Musslewhite and Peyerk in an effort to put together what they later called the \u201cBunny Task Force.\u201d Sell formed this group after hearing Neary\u2019s reports of rabbits at the glacier. It was also formed in response to the growing number of complaints Fish and Game was getting about the rabbits from valley residents.<\/p>\n The Bunny Task Force includes members from Animal Control, the Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Forest Service, the Gastineau Humane Society and the Juneau Police Department. Hicks is also on the group mailing list.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took several years for this partnership to blossom and become what it is today,\u201d Peyerk said.<\/p>\n What it is today, however, is still more of a community outreach effort than it is an enforcement body. Both Animal Control and Fish and Game don\u2019t have the staff or the resources to launch a major rabbit-catching initiative. Sell is part of a three-person wildlife management staff that is responsible for a region spanning from Cape Fanshaw to Icy Bay. Peyerk said that Animal Control is similarly short staffed.<\/p>\n \u201cAnimal Control doesn\u2019t have the resources to catch a bunch of rabbits,\u201d Peyerk said. \u201cObviously, you can\u2019t shake a box of treats and get them to come to you like a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n Animal Control also lacks the legal authority to capture the rabbits. There is no city ordinance that forbids \u201crabbits at large,\u201d and so long as the rabbits are not in violation of city code, Peyerk is not supposed to capture them. He said that Animal Control receives one to two calls per week about the rabbits, but all he can do is advise people how to capture the rabbits themselves.<\/p>\n Fish and Game is currently loaning out traps to community members who are interested in capturing rabbits. It has loaned out 13 traps so far. People can call the Gastineau Humane Society or Fish and Game once they trap a rabbit to have it picked up.<\/p>\n The Humane Society will spay and neuter any rabbits caught and put them up for adoption. Fish and Game will euthanize the rabbits and donate them to the Juneau Raptor Center and the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, where they\u2019ll be used to feed raptors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just need people\u2019s help at this point,\u201d Sell said. \u201cWe need the community\u2019s help if we are going to put a dent in this.\u201d<\/p>\n Hicks and Sell recommend that rabbits be donated to Fish and Game rather than the Humane Society to avoid further overwhelming it with rabbits. Musslewhite said that the shelter will continue to accept rabbits \u201cuntil we run out of money.\u201d But when the average cost of care per rabbit (based on this year\u2019s numbers) is about $750 per rabbit, that may be sooner than later \u2014 especially with the rabbit population still growing.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, if we end up with 250 rabbits next year, and we\u2019ve only been able to adopt 20 this year, whose going to take them?\u201d Musslewhite said. \u201cWe\u2019ll end up as a rabbit shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or at sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shortly before midnight three years ago, the Department of Fish and Game received word that somebody had spotted a bear between Gee Street and Long Run Drive in the valley. The department\u2019s Regional Supervisor, Ryan Scott, and a coworker responded to the call. They weren\u2019t able to find the bear, but what they found instead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":27173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[149],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-27172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-outdoors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27172"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=27172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}