Lions 1, Rabbits 0

Locally caught wild rabbits fall prey to big cats at Korkeasaari Zoo

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The lions, snow leopards, and lynx were given their first city rabbit meal on Wednesday at Helsinki’s Korkeasaari Zoo. For breakfast, the predators had wild rabbits caught in downtown Helsinki.
     
Furry prey apparently gives the big beasts of prey the stimulus they need. So far it has not been possible very often as at Finnish slaughter-houses animals are killed and processed into meat, while their fur is removed.
      Frozen rabbits have been imported to Korkeasaari from Hungary. A small number of moose carcasses from car accidents, as well as horse meat, are also delivered to the zoo.
      In the coming winter, the big cats, birds of prey, and wolverines will get ecological locally-grown food, as the wild rabbits caught in Helsinki will be frozen. They are delivered to Korkeasaari every time that the freezer in the intermediate storage is full.
      The locally-grown food is also less expensive than the foreign meat that has been delivered using cold-storage transportation. The price for local rabbits is EUR 5 per kilo, while that for Hungarian subsitutes is EUR 10 per kilo.
     
The City of Helsinki has had enough of the capital’s wild rabbits. The non-endemic species has caused major damage, especially to parks and gardens.
      The current number of wild rabbits is estimated to be some 7,000. Last winter they caused the City of Helsinki damage running to hundreds of thousands of euros by eating trees and shrubs. More than 700 rabbits were caught mainly by traps, and most of the carcasses ended up in waste disposal sites.
      Korkeasaari is willing to take all city rabbits that have been caught.
      ”Of course we will take all rabbits we can have”, says animal attendant Juha Pääkkönen.
      ”For beasts of prey these are treats, real delicacies. At the same time the zoo animals may tear the skin of rabbits, while the fur gives their bowels much needed supplementary roughage and nutrients”, Pääkkönen notes.
     
Now a lion family can have ten rabbits, while snow leopards and lynx get one snack each.
      The defrosted rabbits have been gutted before they are fed to the big cats, even though the beasts of prey would be happy to eat the whole thing.
      In Finland it is forbidden to feed live prey to animals that are kept at zoos, and in any event the big predators are so degenerated and slow-moving after years in captivity that it is unlikely they would know quite what to do with a live rabbit able and willing to make its escape.
     
The urban wild rabbits are direct descendants of escaped or abandoned pet rabbits.
      They have begun to adapt to the Finnish climate, and have been thriving in recent years.
      The presence of the rabbits has also encouraged a number of urban eagle-owls to take up residence in the city, but they have been quite unable to keep the numbers down.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki´s wild rabbits munch holes in Olympic Stadium football nets (9.9.2008)
  Helsinki to begin culling wild rabbit population (30.1.2008)
  Beasts of prey at Helsinki Zoo soon to be fed with the city´s infamous urban rabbits (15.9.2009)
  Civil servant wants to use ferrets to trap Helsinki´s wild rabbits (15.1.2009)
  Private citizens eager to take the law into their own hands over Helsinki´s escalating rabbit problem (12.5.2009)

Links:
  An alternative solution in Stockholm (from The Local)

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