If you’ve noticed a greater number of “rabbits” on the island this summer, you’re not alone.

The population of snowshoe hare on the island, known locally as “rabbit,” has exploded, part of the species’ natural eight to eleven year population cycle.

The snowshoe hare can have up to two or three litters of young a year, usually born between April and August.

Memorial University ecologist Dr. Michael Peers says the fluctuation in population can be drastic.

“When I was working in the Yukon, at the low of the cycle we would have about 80 traps in a kilometer; we would go out and trap three times, and you’d catch one hare – once. At the peak, you would catch maybe a hundred hare in those three nights of trapping. So the scale is pretty massive.”

Snowshoe hare, or “rabbits” hanging out on Twillingate Island (submitted)

Peers says those fluctuations are not as drastic in Newfoundland, but it’s clear that the species is on the rising side of the cycle.

He says the hare’s main predator is the lynx, but on the Avalon it’s the coyote. That usually means an increase in the incidence of those predators.

(The hare) “is really a keystone prey for a lot of species, so a lot of predators will also fluctuate in abundance. I know there’s been hares on the Avalon in relatively high numbers for the last number of years, so it makes sense that coyote numbers, foxes and other things that eat hares would also be higher.”

“If we do see a really big peak this spring, then it would make sense that…coyotes and other predators would be doing great and their numbers would also see a spike as well.”

Snowshoe hare (photo credit: Andrea C. Skinner via Government of Canada)