could a 1.5 pound Cooper's Hawk injure or kill a free-roam backyard rabbit that weights 5 pounds?

[Anonymous]

We have rabbits that like to romp around in the backyard most of the day.

Lately, I've seen a Cooper's hawk hanging out in nearby trees. It caught a squirrel and devoured it while sitting on the roof of our shed. A squirrel weighs only about one pound, while our rabbits weigh five pounds each. Are our rabbits safe? Or could a hawk overpower a much larger rabbit?

[Anonymous]

I would not leave small pets (including dogs and cats) out when hawks and owls are out and about. Even if they can't carry them off, their talons can cause serious damage.

[Anonymous]

Not that hawk, but larger hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, etc. And as PP said, it's not just being carried off, it's injuries. My pet rabbit died of his injuries when I was 10.

[Anonymous]

Rabbits are NOT good outdoor pets. Among other hazards, there’s a hemorrhagic disease that can be transmitted by wild rabbits’ urine and it kills very quickly. Please bring your rabbits indoors (and get them desxed and vaccinated against RHDV).

[Anonymous]

I live on a farm and have some Cooper's hawks nesting in one of my trees.

When I mow hay, they hunt. Once one of them scooped up a full grown wild rabbit to my side, then took it to a fencepost and devoured it. I don't know how much they each weighed, but I wouldn't think what you are doing is absolutely safe. It's a risk. It'll probably be fine for a while, then one day it might not. I'd probably be OK with the risk when I was out there, but not let them free range all day.

[Anonymous]

Cooper's mostly eat other birds, I believe, but if you've got a rabbit outside it's 100% at risk of predation by an animal. There's plenty of birds and mammals that eat rabbits.

[Anonymous]

Poor rabbits. Sweet little herbavores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rabbits are NOT good outdoor pets. Among other hazards, there’s a hemorrhagic disease that can be transmitted by wild rabbits’ urine and it kills very quickly. Please bring your rabbits indoors (and get them desxed and vaccinated against RHDV).

+1 I'll never understand why people get rabbits just to keep them outside.

[Anonymous]

Yes, OP, those hawks are looking for a good snack. They will eat small mammals as well as birds.

[Anonymous]

They are aggressive opportunists and will 100% kill a rabbit that size. It may not fly off with with the rabbit but it will attack and repeatedly dig those talons in until your pet is dead.

[Anonymous]

I'm under the impression that Coopers Hawks like smaller birds.

However: One attacked and killed our pet duck. When the prey is too heavy to fly away with, they just rip it to shreds right there and leave much of it behind.

Was very glad my kids didn't see that.

That hawk is like a squirrel who knows where every nut is. Once the hawk has located that rabbit, s/he will obsess about it forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are aggressive opportunists and will 100% kill a rabbit that size. It may not fly off with with the rabbit but it will attack and repeatedly dig those talons in until your pet is dead.

Large birds will kill and eat animals on the ground if they can’t carry them away.

As others have noted, coyotes and eagles can absolutely carry away a five pound rabbit.

[Anonymous]

hawk will nom the bunny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rabbits are NOT good outdoor pets. Among other hazards, there’s a hemorrhagic disease that can be transmitted by wild rabbits’ urine and it kills very quickly. Please bring your rabbits indoors (and get them desxed and vaccinated against RHDV).

+1 I'll never understand why people get rabbits just to keep them outside.

Better than locking them in a cage their whole lives. Have you owned rabbits? Like dogs and cats, they like to have freedom to move and to have some semblance of a real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rabbits are NOT good outdoor pets. Among other hazards, there’s a hemorrhagic disease that can be transmitted by wild rabbits’ urine and it kills very quickly. Please bring your rabbits indoors (and get them desxed and vaccinated against RHDV).

+1 I'll never understand why people get rabbits just to keep them outside.

Better than locking them in a cage their whole lives. Have you owned rabbits? Like dogs and cats, they like to have freedom to move and to have some semblance of a real life.

So let them roam around your house. Put out a litterbox, they are fairly easy to train.