When I was living in Iowa, there was a nest (? clutch?) of rabbits living somewhere close to my basement suite. Had bunnies running around all the time.

Yeah, depending on what your neighbours have planted, the bunnies might take to ravaging the neighbourhood.

fff - how urban/suburban/rural are you (You're in the YVR area, no) and are there a lot of outdoor cats in the neighbourhood (I'd worry about those more than coyotes when it comes to dead bunnies)? I've got assorted racoons, skunks, and squirrels running around my backyard - bunnies would be an upgrade over those.

Bunnies are fluffy and cute, but they're just lagomorphs.

We have tons of brown rabbits running around in this town. TONS.

My city neighborhood has a permanent bunny population that seems to do little or no damage unlike the bloody squirrels (Satan in a little fur coat). The city does not use weed killers so the parks and streets have much grazing goodies the bunnies like. The only negative is the scads of squished youngins on the roads every March. My rural place has bunnies briefly every March/April but most seem to be killed off very quickly.

Dead bunnies garner no smiles. >:-(

We've got bunnies out the wazoo in these parts. I would tend to think that if your neighborhood could sustain a lot of bunnies, you'd have a lot of bunnies. If you don't have them, it's probably not a really hospitable environment for the fuzzy little veg munchers.

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Nice idea, but you'd be feeding the dogs and raccoons and hawks.

(What brainwidth said.)

The area around the University of California, Irvine has about 20 quadrillion bunnies. There's a far amount of open space, greenways and grassy fields and the like.

They're actually at least a mild problem and have caused car accidents from people trying to avoid hitting them. I've been in cars no less than a dozen times when they've bolted out into the middle of the road and sat upright, frozen in terror only to go splat headfirst against the bumper.

When I worked there and I rode my bike in to the campus from a nearby city they were an unholy terror as I rode the bike paths and greenways. They'd startle and dart in front of me with annoying regularity. I've almost gone over the handlebars trying to brake, and have nearly run into trees or run off steep embankments. I've actually run over them at high speeds twice. They seemed to be mostly unharmed - able to run and hop away - but extremely pissed off.

They are insanely cute, though. Springtime brought many, many little bunnies hopping around.

On preview: I don't think there's really a problem with feeding hawks and coyotes and the like. I doubt most domesticated dogs would really know what to do with a dead rabbit. And raccoons? I know they eat crayfish, bugs, birds eggs and other smaller animals, but I have problems imagining them hunting rabbits. Rabbits are tough, fast and have a powerful kick. A wild-toughened hare or rabbit would fuck up a fat, loping raccoon something fierce.

If I released a bunch of rabbit they'd all be dead in the street or eaten by cats or poisoned by pesticides. Doesn't sound like a good idea.

I don't think adding unwanted animals to the neighborhood is a very good idea at all.

I doubt most domesticated dogs would really know what to do with a dead rabbit.

I've seen more than one rabbit killed by a domestic dog. It's not a pretty sight. One was in pieces literally spread all over the backyard when my neighbors' (indoor, friendly) German shepherd got it when he went out to pee.

All dogs have instincts. It's not their faults.

The other rabbit was presumably killed by a dog, but a cat brought its head (hanging out of the cat's mouth by the ears) into the greenhouse in which I was working. All the women ran, cooing and awwwing, to the cat to see what it had, then ran screaming away.

And, yes, a 'coon will very definitely kill a rabbit if its sneaky and hungry enough. A 'coon is more than a match for a fox or medium-sized dog. Raccoons are really damn fierce tough l'il "ringtails." (Well, not really ringtails, but ringtails are also members of the Procyonidae family.) I love 'em like all animals, though, especially the ones that live under my back porch ;-)

Should probably also be pointed out that this may be unlawful, depending on city ordinances wherever you live. I can virtually guarentee you that Animal Control is going to be pissed.

You have no bunnies, where you live? Oh, this is a good plan. Please, however, find out which bunnies are indigenous so that you can carry out your nefarious, neighbor annoying plan with minimal impact to your environment. Do your neighbors read MetaChat? You know these bunnies are quite clever and frequently escape the hutch despite all careful precautions. ;)

Should probably also be pointed out that this may be unlawful, depending on city ordinances wherever you live. I can virtually guarentee you that Animal Control is going to be pissed.

Yeah... long-winded examples:

There's some jerk with a wildlife rehabber's license, the kind of person who should not have a rehabber's license, who lives next to my friend Nanette. Nanette takes in rescued, formerly abused dogs, mostly weimaraners. This neighbor-guy breeds rabbits... probably to feed to his boa. He lets them run all over his yard (and into her yard) with no shelter, and my friend is paranoid that one of her dogs will kill a rabbit or two.

Just about every rescuer or rehabber I've known, no matter how careful, has a story about taking in a dog who then, seemingly against the dog's character and with all precautions taken, ended up killing one of their cats. Bunnies are the same part of a dog's prey instinct.

This idiot next to Nanette also breeds cane corsos... wtf? Cane corsos + rabbits? Oh. My. God.

In reference to Nanette's situation, I've checked with another friend of mine, Laura, in the Humane Society in CT, and she says a rehabber's license does not constitute a breeder's license. She had the same problem with an ex-cop in CT who was breeding rabbits and letting 'em run wild... they were then being killed by the neighborhood dogs and being squished by cars, etc.
They had trouble getting the law enforced on an ex-cop. But eventually they did.

fff, it's a beautiful idea, but it's a harsh human world out there. We've messed it up to the point that something that seems like a beautiful idea has to be considered carefully.

fff: do you really live just west of Tonasket? You should be crawling with jackrabbits... Puzzled by the reference to city ordinances. Your lat / long has you in an unincorporated area in Okanogan county...

Short answer: non-native species might cause a population explosion. This happened on Orcas Island in the San Juans in the 1960s. No predators -- bunny catastophe.

I am not in the YVR area, yes.

My lat/long should be placing me near CYVK. Maybe I mucked it up.

If releasing bunnies results in a decrease of dogs, I'm all for it. I don't like dogs and I thoroughly despise dogs that are allowed to run loose. Kill 'em all, I say.

There are scads of bunnies out in the high hills. Never have seen signs of them around here. Could be because there are simply massive numbers of raptors here. Poor bunnies probably don't stand a chance of making it from the forest, over the fields, and into town.

Hadn't thought of the non-native issue. The turkeys were non-native, brought in by an ecologist (!!) who is responsible for monitoring wildlife trends in the area. I believe he was in deep kaka for that poor decision.

I'm not going to grow bunnies. Too much work when there's so much else to be done. But, damn, they'd be so cute!

in the spring a carpet of baby bunnies hop all over the grave outside my window behind a wood.
it's freaking adorable.
but i'd especially avoid it in iowa as they have "bunny round ups".

if there's food and space, they're everywhere, if there's not, you got dying bunnies.

and if there are predators, do remember:
bunnies scream.

gravel

We have bunnies all over my neighborhood. My dog likes to chase them.

Thanks for the quick correction, ethylene. I had an interesting picture in my head...

fff: I think you're about a degree too far south in your latitude. Longitude looks about right.

The reason I brought it up was if you live outside of Tonasket, nobody's going notice if you're got bunnies or rabid wolverines. That's a whole lot of nothing out there. Coyotes and rattlesnakes, mostly. Plus the occasional peckerwood.

You know what would be the worst?

Turning BC into Australia accidently. Overrun with rabbits. Rabbits that eat coniferous trees.

Mind, that would take care of the bark beetle problem. Not that the outcome would be any better for the loggers.

I should get a sack of flower seeds, stomp across the valley, and draw a gigantic bunny on the hillside. It'd look fabu come spring.

fff- Hurah! on being ecologically responsible! Still, there might be something lagoprphic that might work out - I'll keep it in the back on my mind and chew around the idea.

Booo - I thought that you were close to the GVRD. =( (only for purposes of having someone guaranteed to be cool at a Vancouver Mefi/Mecha party).

Do any of your neighbors have vegetable gardens? If so, they'll probably want to kill you for your little plan.