Feral rabbits lure predators to Helsinki
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Risto Mäki was looking out of his window in Myllypuro in the east of Helsinki, and saw a hare munching on a carrot left under a tree in the yard.
“It had a carrot in its mouth when it rose up on its hind legs and took off.”
An even greater surprise came when a lynx shot after it.
“I didn’t get a picture of it, but it had a short tail and tufts of fur in its ears."
Mäki’s sighting of a lynx was not the first in Helsinki this winter.
“Lynxes have apparently become more numerous. Previously I had heard of maybe one case a year. This year there have been more”, says environmental inspector Raimo Pakarinen of the Helsinki Environment Centre.
However, he does not think that the feral rabbits that have been multiplying in Helsinki parks and neighbourhoods are the reason for the surge in the lynx sightings in the Helsinki area.
“I believe that lynx prefer hares to rabbits.”
However, the rabbits may have influenced the increase in the numbers of other predators, such as foxes, ermine, eagle owls, and goshawks. Pakarinen believes that the predators have eaten about as many of the urban rabbits as have been eliminated through the rabbit project of the City of Helsinki - about 1,200 individuals.
“The more food there is in the city, the more foxes there are. A rabbit is a delicious meal for a fox”, says special researcher Kaarina Kauhala of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
Kauhala says that the growth in the rabbit population is nevertheless so strong that neither foxes nor other predators will be able to keep them in check. The predators could have a positive effect on rabbit numbers when the population has stabilised.
Antti J. Rautiainen, a city official put in charge of rabbit control, does not believe that foxes will solve the rabbit problem.
“It is unlikely that there would be room for so many fox territories in Helsinki that it would significantly cull the rabbit population. Traffic prevents large mammals from living here, and there are rather few areas in the city that would be in a natural state”, Rautiainen said.
The increase in the number of foxes should not be a problem in the city. Foxes also eat rats, and food scraps left by people.
“If the fox population remains healthy, it should not pose any problem. Scabies can be spread from foxes to dogs”, Pakarinen says.
“It had a carrot in its mouth when it rose up on its hind legs and took off.”
An even greater surprise came when a lynx shot after it.
“I didn’t get a picture of it, but it had a short tail and tufts of fur in its ears."
Mäki’s sighting of a lynx was not the first in Helsinki this winter.
“Lynxes have apparently become more numerous. Previously I had heard of maybe one case a year. This year there have been more”, says environmental inspector Raimo Pakarinen of the Helsinki Environment Centre.
However, he does not think that the feral rabbits that have been multiplying in Helsinki parks and neighbourhoods are the reason for the surge in the lynx sightings in the Helsinki area.
“I believe that lynx prefer hares to rabbits.”
However, the rabbits may have influenced the increase in the numbers of other predators, such as foxes, ermine, eagle owls, and goshawks. Pakarinen believes that the predators have eaten about as many of the urban rabbits as have been eliminated through the rabbit project of the City of Helsinki - about 1,200 individuals.
“The more food there is in the city, the more foxes there are. A rabbit is a delicious meal for a fox”, says special researcher Kaarina Kauhala of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
Kauhala says that the growth in the rabbit population is nevertheless so strong that neither foxes nor other predators will be able to keep them in check. The predators could have a positive effect on rabbit numbers when the population has stabilised.
Antti J. Rautiainen, a city official put in charge of rabbit control, does not believe that foxes will solve the rabbit problem.
“It is unlikely that there would be room for so many fox territories in Helsinki that it would significantly cull the rabbit population. Traffic prevents large mammals from living here, and there are rather few areas in the city that would be in a natural state”, Rautiainen said.
The increase in the number of foxes should not be a problem in the city. Foxes also eat rats, and food scraps left by people.
“If the fox population remains healthy, it should not pose any problem. Scabies can be spread from foxes to dogs”, Pakarinen says.
Helsingin Sanomat