Not Enough Rabbits Means More Wildlife In El Paso Neighborhoods

Remember the Circle of Life song from The Lion King? All the animals celebrating the birth of Simba, all the other baby animals and their parents smiling sweetly at each other and celebrating the, well, the circle of life? Well, as it turns out, that's only half the circle. The other half is carnivorous animals feeding on prey animals so they can have enough energy to mate and give birth to the next generation who will grow big and strong on the weaker animals to have enough energy to mate and give birth to the next generation thus completing the circle of life.

What? Did you think they ate grass? No, they eat things like wild bunnies and in El Paso there has been an outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease. Yes, there is such a thing, and it has resulted in massive die-offs of wild rabbits which it so happens are what foxes and coyotes like to eat and feed their babies. That circle of life has to include food for foxes and coyotes and if they can't eat wild rabbits, they're going to try to find something else to eat. And that's where your family pets come in.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says that foxes and coyotes will go after pets in backyards if they can so you need to be vigilant if you live in an area of town where you know wildlife wander around. If you have a pet rabbit, you need to make sure that they don't come in contact in any way with wild rabbits who might transmit the disease to your pet bunny.

If you want to get more information about this disease that is wiping out wild rabbits, you can click here. But the most important thing to remember is to keep your family pet out of that circle of life and keep them safe so they don't become a coyote or fox's dinner.