Hares & Rabbits
About rabbits and hares
- In Alberta, there are mountain cottontail rabbits, snowshoe hares, white-tailed jackrabbits (a type of hare) and a variety of domestic rabbit breeds.
- Wild rabbits are grey to brown all year and hares are grey to brown in summer and white in winter.
- Domestic rabbits can be differentiated from wild rabbits by the variety of colours and sizes and are not protected by any of Alberta’s wildlife laws.
- Hare populations tend to peak every 10 years.
- Rabbits normally live only 12 to 15 months and in that time have approximately three litters of up to six young. In the city, rabbit and hare populations are kept in check by vehicles, weather, predators and other mortality factors.
- In summer, rabbits and hares normally consume a diet of grasses and forbs and in the winter eat the buds, twigs and bark of shrubs and trees.
- Hares can consume up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of green vegetation in one day.