Why do Texans hate Rabbits so?

[Jack]

Is there some bit of history about Texas and rabbits that I am missing? There's even a Crusader Rabbit story about how the Texans are oppressing rabbits.

Maybe Matthew can help with this.


Jack :confused:

[chuckamuck43]

Jack, is that your tongue wedged in your cheek?

BTW - Love the avatar. Haven't seen Crusader & Rags since the early '70's. Now, were they Rocky & Bullwinkle first, or is it the other way 'round? :D

P.S. You'll get snail mail sometime this week...:)



Well, I see that if I'd read the "Artsy - Fartsy" thread, I'd have my answer about Crusader...sorry about that!

[Joe Tully]

I'll take an educated guess on this one...and say that it probably has something to do with the fact that wild rabbits are pests. They eat up vegetation and breed like...well, rabbits! After looking at a couple of websites really quickly, it sounds like rabbits eat both crops and vegetation meant as food for livestock. Also, in Texas the breeding season is extended to the entire year for at least the Black-tailed Jackrabbit, which has a distribution listed as the entire state of Texas. Similarly, you might also be aware of the severe problem that Australia has with the rapidly expanding rabbit population...maybe it could be solved by bringing more Tasmanian Devils to the mainland. :D

[J Lee]

If you get a couple of rainy years in a row down in Texas where the vegitation growth is pretty substantial, the number of cottontails and jacks that show up in the springtime can be astounding.

Case in point (and if you're a PETA person, stop reading here): About 15 years ago a friend and I had to make a late night run out into this rural area including a 25-mile long road known for its rabbit population. We did a test: Driving at 55 mph (the speed limit back then) and without swerving in any direction, see how many cottontails and jacks would either run into the path of car or in some cases, run into the side of the car, creating a hollow "thunk" sound in the door panel. The answer: 32, or roughly 1 1/4 rabbits per mile.

Bugs nonwithstanding, Cecil Turtle had it right: "Rabbits aren't very bright," but they sure can breed fast.

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by J Lee
...see how many cottontails and jacks would either run into the car or in some cases, run into the side of the car, creating a hollow "thunk" sound in the doorpanel. The answer: 32, or roughly 1 1/4 rabbits per mile.

Bugs nonwithstanding, Cecil Turtle had it right: "Rabbits aren't very bright," but they sure can breed fast.

Now the new question John is... "Did your car then have 32 dents in it???" :) :) :D

Maybe I can send a few of these darn coyotes over...

[J Lee]

No dents, but there were some random paint chips (unknown soruce -- I had no access to DNA testing) and a small piece of fur at the back of one of the wheel wells ("The poor wittle gway wabbit...")

[Matthew Hunter]

Being a Texan myself, I don't ever have any trouble with rabbits, but I've seen them around many times. In my suburban neighborhood, we don't have too many, but out in the country there are a ton of rabbits. I hardly ever seen jackrabbits, but cottontails are plentiful. If I'm going to guess why there's a Texan/rabbit connection, I think maybe when the population gets too out of hand, they start to run out of natural food and come eat people's crops. However, as mentioned already, that happens mainly in rainy spells, and we haven't had a significant one at that particular time of year in a long time. In fact, here in Fort Worth there has been a major drought. Droughts can cause trouble with the rabbits too...in Midland, where my grandmother lives, there was only an inch or two of rain by June of last year, and all that occured in January. Midland's dry already, but with there being no water, we drove up to the country club one night to eat dinner, and there were about 3 rabbits at each golf course sprinkler head, jacks, cottontails, all kinds. Quail and dove as well, plus one coyote. It was incredible, it must have been their only water source.

But rabbits aren't really the problem, in my opinion. What's really out of hand is squirrels. My dad has a vegetable garden (a challenge already with the hot summers here) and grows tomatoes. The squirrels can strip a whole plant full of fruit in two days. They eat them ALL. Same with the peach tree in the back yard, we've only had, maybe, 4 peaches in the past 13 years. We had apple trees for a time, but we may have had one or two apples there, and we never did get to try the three different varieties. The trees eventually died of a fungus or old age or something, and the squirrels had taken nearly every single fruit ever produced. Funny, because for a long time they weren't so overpopulated. I think a long drought, combined with a lack of natural predators, dogs getting used to them, and urban spreading destroying their natural habitat/food, forced them into the neighborhood. Anyway, they are a PEST. Oh, and it's been almost Wile E. Coyote-esque, we have tried every trick in the book to keep them out of our garden...and they eventually foiled every one of them. We don't even try to keep them out of the bird-feeders.
-Matthew

[Gossamer]

As an (expatriate) loyal son of the Republic (Hats off, hands on hearts) of Texas, I wish to hereby categorically deny the scurrilous allegation that Texans hate rabbits. We love Thumpers! Preferably fried with a bit of lemon squirted to add flavor. BTW, they do NOT taste "just like chicken". As the "guy in the third row" seems to be from PETA, I'm gonna skedaddle outta here pronto!