How to deal with problem Rabbit in Massachusetts

Rabbit (Bunny, Cottontail, Cottontail rabbit, Eastern cottontail)

Rabbit

Eastern cottontail

There are more than a dozen species of rabbit found in North America. The most common in the eastern part of the United States is the eastern cottontail. Two similar cottontails that occur in the east, Appalachian cottontail and New England cottontail, are more prevalent in high elevation young forest areas. Eastern cottontails are most often found in suburban backyard habitats, brush piles, edges of fields in farmed areas, brushy fencerows, cemeteries, open woods with a brushy understory, and roadsides. They rarely inhabit dense forests and extensive grasslands.

Rabbits eat flowers and vegetables in spring and summer, and gnaw bark and clip off low growing woody branches in fall and winter. Cottontails prefer plants in the rose family, and also raspberries, blackberries, apple trees, maples, sumac, and dogwoods. Gnaw marks on woody stems and clean cut, angled clippings of young stems up to twenty inches above the ground are evidence of rabbit damage. Cottontails use natural cavities and abandoned burrows for denning and escape cover. They are most active at dusk, dawn, and during the night. 

Legal, Regulated Hunting in Massachusetts

Legal, Regulated Hunting in Massachusetts

The use of legal, regulated, hunting by licensed hunters can be useful for reducing local wildlife populations and can help reduce nuisance problems in Massachusetts. You can allow hunters on to your property, provide a place for them to park to access nearby forest, and/or give them permission to hunt within 500 feet of your residence. Please also keep in mind that each town may have additional by-laws that restrict hunting and the discharge of firearms.

Information about hunting seasons and regulations in Massachusetts

Solutions for rabbit problems

How to keep rabbits away from my garden, flowers, and treesExplore this solution

How to trap and relocate rabbitsExplore this solution

Shooting problem rabbitsExplore this solution

What should I do if I find an orphaned or abandoned baby rabbit (bunny)?Explore this solution

What to do with an animal that is behaving strangely or aggressivelyExplore this solution

Laws and regulations to be aware of

Regulations for Massachusetts

Relocation of Wildlife

No person shall transport any fish or wildlife species in Massachusetts. 

Exceptions to transporting and liberating wildlife in Massachusetts include: (a) Permitted Massachusetts wildlife rehabilitators may transport within Massachusetts and liberate rehabilitated wildlife; (b) a permitted Massachusetts problem animal control agent may liberate problem animals at the site of capture, or may transport within Massachusetts such animals to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or for the purposes of euthanasia.

Killing of Wildlife by Owner or Tenant of Land

Under Mass.General Law 131, Section 37, a property owner or tenant of land may hunt or take by other means, except by poison or snare, any mammal which he finds damaging his property, provided that such killing is not contrary to any federal law or regulation.  Animals killed under this law, must be reported to authorities within 24 hours.

Trap Types Restricted in Massachusetts

A person shall not use, set, place, maintain, manufacture or possess any trap for the purpose of capturing furbearing mammals, except for common type mouse and rat traps, nets, and box or cage type traps, as otherwise permitted by law. A box or cage type trap is one that confines the whole animal without grasping any part of the animal, including Hancock or Bailey's type live trap for beavers. Other than nets and common type mouse or rat traps, traps designed to capture and hold a furbearing mammal by gripping the mammal's body, or body part are prohibited, including steel jaw leghold traps, padded leghold traps, and snares.

Firearm Discharge

A person shall not discharge any firearm or release any arrow upon or across any state or hard surfaced highway, or within one hundred and fifty feet, of any such highway, or possess a loaded firearm or hunt by any means within five hundred feet of any dwelling in use, except as authorized by the owner or occupant thereof.

Legal, Regulated Hunting

The use of legal, regulated, hunting by licensed hunters can be useful for reducing local wildlife populations and can help reduce nuisance problems in Massachusetts. You can allow hunters on to your property, provide a place for them to park to access nearby forest, and/or give them permission to hunt within 500 feet of your residence. Please also keep in mind that each town may have additional by-laws that restrict hunting and the discharge of firearms.
While we attempt to provide guidance about state and federal regulations pertaining to specific species and control techniques, we do not provide information about local jurisdictions (city, town, county, etc.) where regulations may be more restrictive, especially as it applies to discharge of firearms, transport of animals or use of trapping equipment. Contact your local city or county government to inquire further. No guarantee is made that information (or lack of information) associated with a species or control technique is completely accurate or current. You should become familiar with federal, state and local laws before beginning any wildlife control activities.