Feral Rabbits - Eastern Washington

Does know of any rabbit rescues in or near the Spokane area that will come trap feral domestic rabbits? Someone released 3 adults last fall and they've been breeding and surviving through the winter. In fact, Newton and Emily are most definitely from this feral colony. There are at least 7 adults I can account for. I've spoken to a rescuer I met through Facebook but she doesn't have any East side contacts and is located West of the mountains.

If the population gets any bigger I fear they'll push the wild rabbits out of the area, and I know for a fact that certain locals have intentions to hunt them this spring. I can't sit idly by and know that there are kits dying in the ground somewhere because I couldn't do anything.

It might be up to you. Feral bunnies are everywhere.
We have thousands on the island. And it really isnt harming the wild rabbit population. I find the feral ones to be more street smart then the wild ones too. Its odd.

Google, "rabbit rescues, WA"

I did that and three popped up. Maybe one of them can help.

Watermelons said:

It might be up to you. Feral bunnies are everywhere.
We have thousands on the island. And it really isnt harming the wild rabbit population. I find the feral ones to be more street smart then the wild ones too. Its odd.

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I was previously under the impression (had been told by what I assumed to be a knowledgeable person) that domestic rabbits couldn't even survive a winter here.

I did Google it, and I found nothing for my area. All the rescues I found were too far west for them to help.

Well youre a bit further east.... hard to say about winters. But if theyve got a nice insulated burrow they do fine.
Ive got a pair that have showed at my work in the last 2-3 weeks.
They do quite well. When i see the wild and feral ones interact.... the wild ones are usually kicking the ferals butt!!
But they definitely arent out competing each other. I find the wild ones usually hang in totally different more wooded areas.

Watermelons said:

It might be up to you. Feral bunnies are everywhere.
We have thousands on the island. And it really isnt harming the wild rabbit population. I find the feral ones to be more street smart then the wild ones too. Its odd.

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Watermelons, you don't live by VIU do you? Haha. Not sure what Island you're talking about, but I know Nanaimo has soooo many dumped buns

Strax said:

Watermelons, you don't live by VIU do you? Haha. Not sure what Island you're talking about, but I know Nanaimo has soooo many dumped buns

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Not near VIU. Closer to Qualicum
There are feral rabbits EVERYWHERE here.
Every city. All over the place. Its insane.

Watermelons said:

Well youre a bit further east.... hard to say about winters. But if theyve got a nice insulated burrow they do fine.
Ive got a pair that have showed at my work in the last 2-3 weeks.
They do quite well. When i see the wild and feral ones interact.... the wild ones are usually kicking the ferals butt!!
But they definitely arent out competing each other. I find the wild ones usually hang in totally different more wooded areas.

Click to expand...

Yeah, we get really harsh winters out here. This one wasn't so bad as far as snowfall, but it did get insanely cold again. We usually get around 2 feet of snow and then every third year or so get a real bad weather cycle and get like 4 feet dumped on us.

I used to see the Nuttal's all the time around here, but I haven't seen any wild rabbits since I started seeing the feral population grow. When Emily came in we actually thought he was a young Cottontail, but it didn't take long for us to find out that he's definitely not. Now he's like twice the size of Newton despite being a few weeks younger. I haven't been able to find his breed using the identification key, but I've been told (again by someone I presume to be knowledgeable) that he looks strikingly like a Continental Giant and after looking them up, he does look just like them. However none of the feral ones that look like him got anywhere near as big despite having access to pretty much the same food (they eat the hay that the horse pushes out of her trough and the raccoons are constantly spilling the pellets).