were in the late stages of setting up , an odd thing that crossed my mind and will post the question , Do bears bother rabbits in outdoor setups ? beekeepers use an electric fence, is this something done to protect rabbits. I ask ,as we have had bears in our pig pen and a bear ripped the door off our chicken tractor , no pigs or chickens were harmed but hate waking up to meat chickens or rabbits all over the yard.
do bears bother with rabbits
- Thread starter spencedr
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There are threads on here about bears getting at rabbits. Maybe the search can turn those topics up, but I'm pretty sure it's been talked about here.
MuddyFarms
Well-known member
Hey, spencedr! I had the same concern for my planned outdoor setup. It seems that it would depend on how bold the bears are, and yours sound quite happy to find their next meal at your place! According to the Fish and Game wardens here, the only way to keep bears out of orchards, etc. is sturdy electric fencing, like you mentioned. I was planning to use the method in the Living with Predators Resource Guide (find it at the link below), around my enclosure. It was tested on grizzlies. They use electrified cattle panels, which seem to me to be a certain way for a bear to learn his manners. It may prove a bit expensive, but if it is not a huge area you need to protect, it may be worth it. Perhaps you would even want to put it around your other animal enclosures to do some bear training there as well, so he doesn't feel the need to keep coming back to check what's available? Habits can be hard to break.
I ended up having to convert most of our strong chicken house for the rabbits so they would not be so vulnerable, so I have yet to actually test out the fence.
https://lwwf.org/resource-guides
I ended up having to convert most of our strong chicken house for the rabbits so they would not be so vulnerable, so I have yet to actually test out the fence.
https://lwwf.org/resource-guides
MuddyFarms
Well-known member
Also, animal feeds alone can bring in the bears...
thanks for the feedback , thankfully no grizzlies here ( black bears only) they typically check us out in the late spring looking for easy food sources. checked some local groups as well and no one has had an issue , fingers crossed we won't be first cheers.
cheers.
