I lost a pet rabbit to a fox -- question to others who have gone through this experience

MoreTreatsPlease · Oct 23, 2024

A few days ago one of my indoor/outdoor pet rabbits ("Alabama") was killed in the backyard by a fox. Alabama loved the backyard, and, over the last few years, spent many happy days rolling around in the dirt beneath the shed, nibbling on veggies in our garden, or lounging beneath an azalea bush. Every evening, an hour before sunset, we would bring him inside to keep him safe.

Last week, I foolishly let him spend an extra half-hour in the backyard after sunset, and a prowling fox caught him and killed him. I feel terrible that his life was ended so brutally. He was a middle-aged rabbit and still had 4 or 5 good years ahead of him.

Going forward, I'm unsure what approach I should take with my other two rabbits. They also love the backyard, and they sit next to the sliding-glass door every morning waiting for me to open it so that they can head outside. My plan is to attempt to capture the fox using a humane trap, and then transport port him 20 or 30 miles to a large wooded area, and release him. There is more than one fox that lives nearby, but there is one in particular who sometimes ventures through our yard. He has distinctive markings that make him recognizable, and he is the fox that killed Alabama. If I can catch him, I think the risk to my other rabbits would be significantly reduced.

For those of you who have lost a pet rabbit to a fox, have you changed your view of allowing rabbits outdoors? Or have you continued to allow them some outdoor time? Have you made any adjustments to increase their safety?

Of course, I could simply confine my remaining rabbits to the indoors -- this solves the fox problem, but deprives them of a big source of joy.

My rabbits love the outdoors and they seem sad and bored when confined to the indoors.

So, hard to know what to do. I'm curious what others in the same situation have done.

Ruth · Oct 23, 2024

MoreTreatsPlease said:
So, hard to know what to do. I'm curious what others in the same situation have done.

We have a large yard with free range chickens, geese, and sometimes I used to let my bunnies free range.
However, I lost my favourite lop to some wild dogs in January. I often just let her out in the backyard and she would follow me around. Her cage was a hutch outside and one night she escaped. I wasn't feeling well and I think I didn't latch her cage properly. Plus she was mad at me for something I did and wanted to rebel, so she forced her way out. She was just in the backyard but the dogs jumped the fence and got her. I was devastated for a long time.
I had other bunnies and I stopped letting them free range the yard, until we had some neighbors that caught the wild dogs.
Even with our fence we still get a fox, hawks, cayotes and every once in a while the neighbor's big brown dog, hopping into our yard. I did discover though that if I block off or fence off an area and put a tarp(mesh, even just a sheet) over it and lock that down tight, my bunnies have been safe even if I let them stay overnight. So I do have a couple large areas blocked off outside where they can run and no predator has gotten in. They are free to run in those areas in the day but I still generally lock them up or bring them in before nightfall. I also don't let them out until after 10am because the predators usually come either at night or even once the fox was out at 9 in the morning.

overhear · Oct 24, 2024

I'm so sorry for your loss! I have a friend who has created above-ground tunnels out of chicken wire to allow her chickens to go from one area of her yard to another safely. She has a big hutch area that's covered and another area she calls "Central Park" that's also covered. And the chickens can go between them through these tubes. She did that after a hawk grabbed one of her chickens long ago. It survived but was very traumatized. At night they're locked in the hutch.

lilewis · Oct 24, 2024

I will never let our bunny outside without a cage or fence that is completely covered with overhead protection. A few years ago on the next day a neighbor brought our attention to something horrible that had happened 12 hrs earlier. I then looked back at our security camera and we saw a wild bunny get attacked by a hawk that appeared out of nowhere so fast that even if we were outside we couldn't have helped. The bunny was too heavy for the hawk to fly with so he was eaten on the spot. Only a few remains remained Bunnies who live their lives in a house are easy prey and In my opinion it's just not worth the risk to be outside unless the play area is protected on all sides AND above. Our neutered "Playboy" is the best friend of the 4 people in our house, and he's quite content here. After 6pm every day I sit on floor of the living room and watch the news and every time he comes over to me and lies down on the floor next to me, leaning on my leg while we cuddle and watch tv together.

A couple of months ago I was sitting on a chair coughing trying to expel a popcorn kernel that was stuck in my throat.
As soon as he realized I had a problem he raced at full speed out of his cage and jumped onto the chair and sat with me until I stopped coughing. I was shocked he did that!

He's not a rabbit - he's an excellent family member and we seem to understand each other much better than I had earlier imagined.

Preitler · Oct 24, 2024

Catching a fox is not easy, they are so smart - and pretty strong for their size. They can climb, and are just amazing animals. Not as dumb as dogs.

After one attacked my boy at noon, with me close enough to get between them after he screamed, I got quite weary too. My rabbit, although not injured, died from shock a few hours later.
That fox came back in winter and got 3 young rabbits out of a hutch (while I was in the US), I then fenced in the hutches, made the gate spring loaded with a step on trigger and an alarm, and left the gate open, the next time the fox got into that perimeter he didn't get out again. Very mangy fox, the hunter I called to avoid poaching issues said he hadn't ever seen such a bad case.

I keep a wildlife camera around, to see what is going on at night. When my rabbits are out a radio is always running - that seems to work pretty good here in a rural area, not sure if that would be a deterrent in a town. Also keeps marten away.

A few years after the first incident I noticed a young fox getting too interested, I trapped him and scared the heck out of him, another was scared off by the rabbits - I have a video of it going into the fenced area, and then all the rabbits started thumping before he stepped on the trigger, very impressive in wooden hutches, ran off at max speed - never seen one of those two again. That's good, if it's their territory now, and they are weary of my place, I want to keep them around as long as possible.
Also, I have marten in my barn, but no problem with those so far.

As long as I can scare them off, or keep them weary of my hutch area, I prefer to not to catch or kill them - we have a stalemate, but with a new predator taking over a vacant territory I would have to be more worried. For me there are benefits, like they keep rats and mice under control. I lost more kits to rats than anything else.
I'm not sure if one that got a taste of rabbit would last long though, I would try to catch and scare it, if it would ever return I'd have it's pelt.

Apart from the radio, I also, ahem, well, "mark" the borders of my property, I want all wildlife to know that this is a human place. Just look what smell information means to dogs. And my rabbits go out in groups, they see everything, and they listen to birdsong. When there is an alarm call, it's fascinating to almost hear a clap when the air fills up the void where a bunny just has been. When I'm out there I let them out of any fence, on meadow and wood, never lost one that way, not one ever ran away. Mine grow up that way, I enjoy letting them manifest their instincts.

I reckon how I keep my rabbits is impossible for most, I can be quite savage, and here in the village I'm "The Loony Bunny Guy" anyway. Seriously scared dog owners that don't keep their dogs under control, or on the leash. I wouldn't kill a dog unless it's a danger to me though.

MoreTreatsPlease · Oct 25, 2024

Preitler said:
Catching a fox is not easy, they are so smart - and pretty strong for their size. They can climb, and are just amazing animals. Not as dumb as dogs.

After one attacked my boy at noon, with me close enough to get between them after he screamed, I got quite weary too. My rabbit, although not injured, died from shock a few hours later.
That fox came back in winter and got 3 young rabbits out of a hutch (while I was in the US), I then fenced in the hutches, made the gate spring loaded with a step on trigger and an alarm, and left the gate open, the next time the fox got into that perimeter he didn't get out again. Very mangy fox, the hunter I called to avoid poaching issues said he hadn't ever seen such a bad case.

I keep a wildlife camera around, to see what is going on at night. When my rabbits are out a radio is always running - that seems to work pretty good here in a rural area, not sure if that would be a deterrent in a town. Also keeps marten away.

A few years after the first incident I noticed a young fox getting too interested, I trapped him and scared the heck out of him, another was scared off by the rabbits - I have a video of it going into the fenced area, and then all the rabbits started thumping before he stepped on the trigger, very impressive in wooden hutches, ran off at max speed - never seen one of those two again. That's good, if it's their territory now, and they are weary of my place, I want to keep them around as long as possible.
Also, I have marten in my barn, but no problem with those so far.

As long as I can scare them off, or keep them weary of my hutch area, I prefer to not to catch or kill them - we have a stalemate, but with a new predator taking over a vacant territory I would have to be more worried. For me there are benefits, like they keep rats and mice under control. I lost more kits to rats than anything else.
I'm not sure if one that got a taste of rabbit would last long though, I would try to catch and scare it, if it would ever return I'd have it's pelt.

Apart from the radio, I also, ahem, well, "mark" the borders of my property, I want all wildlife to know that this is a human place. Just look what smell information means to dogs. And my rabbits go out in groups, they see everything, and they listen to birdsong. When there is an alarm call, it's fascinating to almost hear a clap when the air fills up the void where a bunny just has been. When I'm out there I let them out of any fence, on meadow and wood, never lost one that way, not one ever ran away. Mine grow up that way, I enjoy letting them manifest their instincts.

I reckon how I keep my rabbits is impossible for most, I can be quite savage, and here in the village I'm "The Loony Bunny Guy" anyway. Seriously scared dog owners that don't keep their dogs under control, or on the leash. I wouldn't kill a dog unless it's a danger to me though.

Lots of interesting information. Thanks! You mentioned that you trapped one fox. How did you do it? What type of trap? I would like to give this a try, but prefer to use a humane trap. I see many options on Amazon, but it is hard to tell which will be effective.

MoreTreatsPlease · Oct 25, 2024

Lots of interesting information. Thanks! You mentioned that you trapped one fox. How did you do it? What type of trap? I would like to give this a try, but prefer to use a humane trap. I see many options on Amazon, but it is hard to tell which will be effective.

Preitler · Oct 25, 2024

I used the fenced in hutch area as trap, so they get the connection: Sneaking up on rabbits -> get trapped. My hutches are safe, the rabbits are used to dogs comming in and they have enough hiding spaces.
If I would need to build a trap for a fox I would make it huge, and designed like a two-door-marten trap, just sized up to 2-2.5m lenght, at least half a meter square crossection. Just took a peek at Amazon and that "Extra Large Fox Trap 150 cm" is just as big as the trap I built for marten and rabbits (that refuse to go home in the evening). No way the fox I shot would have squeezed in there, would have been a very snug fit.
I do not use any traps that could cause injuries, neighbours cats are around, and lots of wildlife I don't want to harm, like hedgehogs, birds, snakes, dormouse, etc. etc.,
When I notice something on the wildlife camera or see tracks in the snow I set up a motion detector hooked up to some power tool in a metal bucket. It's 7 or 8 years since I had those troubles, and although I know there are foxes around (stole apples from a neighbours carport last winter) scaring them off seems to work for me - but I'm living in rather small valley next to the woods, so foxes aren't used to people and stuff, in more urban places I wouldn't bet that a radio running would work as well. An angle grinder starting up in a metal bucket might scare pretty much anything though, I guess.

MoreTreatsPlease · Oct 25, 2024

Preitler said:
Just took a peek at Amazon and that "Extra Large Fox Trap 150 cm" is just as big as the trap I built for marten and rabbits (that refuse to go home in the evening). No way the fox I shot would have squeezed in there, would have been a very snug fit.

I think the fox that is stalking my property is on the small side -- about 25 to 35 pounds. Do you think a fox of this size would fit into a 150 cm trap? Or is the issue that he would fit, but would hesitate to enter such a small space? Is there any humane trap on Amazon that you think has a reasonable chance of working?

Preitler · Oct 26, 2024

I really don't know, they say young foxes, but in my opinion quite often the sales department is rather optimistic, the mice around here run off with what is sold as mouse traps here. Anyway, in the (german) reviews are accounts of successfully trapping foxes with it, so it might be that I do things more complicated than necessary.

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