Many people think wild rabbits hopping around are adorable—there's even an international rabbit day celebrating wild and domestic rabbits—but they're less welcome when they're eating your carefully tended garden. Wild rabbits in California can devour your garden vegetables, just like Peter Cottontail. And they don't stop at lettuce and beans. Rabbits and hares will gnaw tree bark, flowers, most green vegetation, and even drip irrigation tubing.

UC Davis Wildlife Specialist Roger Baldwin has revised the Pest Notes: Rabbits and included more detailed management methods for jackrabbits, cottontails, and other wild rabbits. Managing vertebrate pests is often regulated but you don't need a license to take rabbits causing damage on your property. Several methods from excluding to trapping can be effective. Directions for building a rabbit fence, the most effective, long-term management choice, is included in this publication. But as Mr. McGregor found out, you must maintain your fences or rabbits will sneak in!

A black-tailed jackrabbit, also known as a hare. [Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service]

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