My part of Florida is being overrun with rabbits.
They are cute, but their mouths move for hours at a time each day as they normally eat grass.
They damage the bark of saplings and shrubs and have eaten many caladium shoots. They have killed some of my camelias.
We found a nest with five bunnies in our garden a couple months ago. Though we knew where it was and had handled a couple of them, the mother apparently continued to take care of them, because they continued to grow.
We finally pulled them out and put them in a cage when they were about the size of baseballs. A couple weeks later I released them and they are running around the yard, almost like pets. You can get within a few feet of them and they just stare at you, and continue eating while you watch them. And my maltipoo LOVES chasing them.
—My part of Florida is being overrun with rabbits. -—
In my area of NC, all of the rabbits have vanished. I believe the victim of a virus disease — rabbit hemorrhagic disease. No threat to humans. We would always see rabbits running in the yard, but no more, for two years now. I miss the little guys.
Decades ago, studies in Texas found that 12 cottontails will eat as much as a cow. Night time spotlighting rabbits has been a common thing.
About 140 years ago in W. Texas, the rabbit population exploded with the critters eating every blade of grass and rabbit roundups where common. Those that killed the rabbits were known as Rabbit Twisters.
One W. Texas town has a slogan, Home Of The Rabbit Twisters. *Robert Lee, Texas.