“Huge” Droves of Jackrabbits Invade North Dakota Town

The area around Fargo, North Dakota has always been known as a decent area to find jackrabbits, yet residents are now complaining that especially large droves have moved in and seem determined to stay for a while. According to homeowners like Kayla Straabe, the hares are destroying park foliage and leaving droppings all around South Fargo.

“It’s been about three months of them,” Straabe told WDAY. “Right away I thought they were really cute and now they’re becoming a big nuisance and everyday I wake up and I open up the windows to see how many rabbits there are in my yard and there’s at least 40 to 50 everyday.”

White-tailed jackrabbits are one of the largest hare species, and it is not unusual for the animals to grow up to the size of a small dog. These prairie hares are generally not very aggressive but can pack a mean bite if provoked. This is enough to worry dog walkers or parents who take their children to local parks in South Fargo. Since jackrabbits are considered a game animal, Fargo has no city ordinance that deals with managing their growing populations, and local police have found themselves sidelined.

“What residents can do is start a formal process to get an ordinance, which is usually done at committee meetings,” Fargo Police Lt. Joel Vettel told ABC News.

Local animal removal companies have also reportedly declined to tackle the problem, saying that the number of hares in the area is too high to trap effectively.

In the meantime, the jackrabbits seem more than happy to multiply. Wildlife experts say that female jackrabbits can bear up to four litters of young every year and will breed from late February to mid-July. There is no official count on how many jackrabbits reside within South Fargo, but it is estimated in the hundreds. Residents worry that by the time a city ordinance is in place, the population will have boomed well into the thousands.

“Every day, I feel like the crazy rabbit lady chasing them out of the yard where they’re having a hay day,” Straabe added.

You can see video of South Fargo’s rampant hare problem below:

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