We have rabbits - ceramic and otherwise.

I’ve seen deer in some of the busiest areas of the city.  And foxes and raccoons and opossum.  And of course there are the birds and squirrels and chipmunks and voles and all the other creatures we’ve come to know.   Usually wildlife is a joy.  Sometimes they are a pain in the backside.  If you’ve ever struggled with voles and watched your much loved plants just disappear before your eyes, then you know what I mean.  

And sometimes the critter can be a joy AND a pain.  Take our rabbits for instance.  We’ve had a family of rabbits living in our yard for years – at least a decade.  We don’t see them every day, and when we do see them it’s usually only a brief glimpse as they hop off to their hideaway. Sometimes when they’re young, they’re more … naive.   A few weeks ago I was sitting at the table in the lower level of the garden having coffee with my son-in-law and a little rabbit was munching away right beside us.  He didn’t seem to mind us at all – and we certainly enjoyed watching him. 

Usually, they don’t eat much (at least in OUR garden).  Once in a while we’ll see that something has been nibbled on, but not very often.  But every once in a while we’ll come out in the morning and something will be decimated.  And it’s likely to be something precious – like an asian lily.   But that’s rare.  That being said, last year was the worst we had ever seen.  I don’t know why but suddenly they started eating away in our garden.  Maybe there were more of them than usual.  Maybe there normal food supply was late or in short supply.  I don’t know why it happened.  We adjusted.  We blocked off the things they seemed to be going for, with wire screening.  That helped.  But we never even entertained the notion of getting rid of the rabbits.  Not once.  Eventually the problem stopped.  If it hadn’t, or if it had gotten much worse, I don’t know if we would have kept our attitude of laissez faire toward the rabbits.  Let’s hope we are never faced with that decision.

We have friends who have far worse problems.  Usually these friends live further out of town and have larger properties.  Deer can be like Godzilla in a garden.  So can voles.  Although it would be great to look out from the deck and see a family of deer, it might not be so great to look out from the deck and see a family of deer eating your entire garden to the nub. 

On the whole, we don’t have a problem.  And we sure do enjoy seeing that little chipmunk race across the patio.

Filed under: Wildlife