Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502230004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
JUST AFTER Christmas, a friend who's a falconer asked me if I had any rabbits at my place. She and her redtail were having no luck in Meadows of Dan at all.
Her question prompted me to wonder. And, after consideration, I realized that I'd seen precious few rabbits recently myself.
This state of affairs continues. In our most recent snow, I found not a single track.
So I called my falconer friend again last week to ask how goes the hunting. ``Not good,'' she said. ``Definitely fewer rabbits than last year. I haven't even seen sign.'' And a couple of rabbit hunters among her acquaintance have reported to her similar experiences.
``But this may be a localized problem,'' she said, since another falconer she knows in Abingdon has a nice, fat, rabbit-fed hawk.
Our combined anecdotal evidence began to worry me, though, so I called Jim Parkhurst, extension wildlife specialist at Virginia Tech, to ask him: Where have all the rabbits gone?
``I got plenty at my place,'' he said. ``Come get all you want.''
Then, more seriously, he told me that nothing has come across his desk to indicate that disease is decimating the rabbit population.
Rabbit populations do tend to be cyclical, though, he said; they naturally go up and down. Snowshoe hares, for instance, increase and decrease on a 10-year cycle.
Too, a change in habitat can influence a local population: an increase of dogs in the neighborhood, for instance, or a loss of cover. A shift in the natural predatory base - more hawks, large owls and foxes, or a family of coyotes - can, of course, make a difference, too.
But none of those influences seem to apply around here.
So next I called a correspondent of mine in Salem, Gene Morgan. He's a retired social worker, a native of Washington County, and about the best tale-teller I've ever heard.
He's also forgotten more about wildlife than I will ever learn. ``What you're experiencing is normal,'' he told me. ``The rabbit population reaches a high in early fall, then over the winter 85 to 90 percent die off. If they didn't, pretty soon we'd be knee-deep in rabbits.''
Those rabbits that survive start having litters again in early spring, and keep on making more rabbits into the fall. ``On a late spring night,'' he said, ``you can go out and see 'em bouncing around your yard like little leprechauns.''
He did say that a particularly rainy spring might unusually reduce the rabbit population. Rabbits nest in shallow depressions on the ground; and in bad weather, naturally, bunnies will be lost.
``So, could last year's ice storms have made a difference?'' I asked him.
Maybe, he said. They likely increased the starvation rate. But not to worry. ``Rabbits are like flies. We're gonna have 'em no matter what.''
``Well I wish mine would come back,'' I told him. And I do.
``That's the magic word,'' Morgan said. ``Back. You put a note on your calendar to call me again in April, to tell me your rabbits are back.''
In the meantime, I always have Parkhurst's offer to come over to his house and get some.
Monty S. Leitch is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB