RABBITS RULE

WASILLA — In a strange case of suburban wildlife, the Wasilla municipal code is hamstrung by rabbits.

Mack Duregloh and his wife, an expert horticulturist, retired after owning a successful greenhouse. Their home off of Goldendale Drive is surrounded by beds for a winter’s supply of squash, asparagus and prize-winning flowers.

Now their crop is in jeopardy as Duregloh finds himself powerless against the feral rabbits infesting his neighborhood.

He first noticed the rabbits in 2007. By the summer of 2008, it was common to see 50 rabbits while walking his dog around a mile loop, he said.

“I’m not the only one affected,” Duregloh said. “Next door, we have a single woman. […] Her garden last year was literally wiped out by rabbits.”

“The rabbits have the right away,” said Duregloh. “You can’t shoot them. You can’t trap them — other than the type that catches them safe and releases them. And they don’t have any method, they don’t have any rules or regulations to where they can control them.”

The “they” he is referring to is the city of Wasilla and Houston Animal Control, the contractor for Wasilla animal control.

“I’ve addressed this to the mayor’s office. I’ve talked to the code compliance office. The planning commissioner, and Deputy Chief Wood of the Wasilla Police Department,” said Duregloh. “They all sympathize and say yes we got a problem, but there’s nothing on the regs. There’s no law, there’s no nothing. They can’t control the rabbits.”

Both the city and animal control agree.

“I’m not saying there’s nothing we can do,” said Wood of Wasilla police. “I just don’t know of any tool we have as far as a city ordinance that we could use at this time.”

Rick Molburg, deputy animal control officer agrees the rabbits should not be there. But because there is no ordinance, he can’t take any preemptive action, and only live traps are allowed inside city limits.

“This has been ongoing for six years now,” said Molburg. “If a resident calls me, I’ll put a trap on their property. Then they can call us if they get a rabbit. But once green-up comes, live traps are useless because there’s plenty to eat.”

The other problem, Duregloh, Wood and Molburg agree, is many of the residents want the rabbits around their neighborhood.

Walking down Snohomish Avenue on Friday afternoon, it was obvious what they meant. The north side of the street is a row of fourplexes. In just 10 minutes, there were at least half a dozen rabbits visible. The ground was more droppings than dirt, and the rabbits hardly shied away from humans. They were concentrated around one complex in particular, eating rabbit pellets out of four plastic dishes.

“They are not wild animals, they are not indigenous to Alaska,” said Wood. “There is a rule against feeding wild animals, but these rabbits are classified as feral.”

For his part, Duregloh is worried what’s going to happen if the rabbits are not kept in check. Because they survive the winter by sleeping next to house foundations, the population will increase exponentially.

“Australia had to build a fence across the entire country to keep the rabbits out,” he said. “This is the start, and it’s the start of an epidemic.”

Wood said Duregloh needs to do his research, find out what the possibility is of rabbits as disease carriers, and make a presentation to the city council.

“The only problem is you get right back to the how. How are we to get rid of these rabbits?” said Wood. “I think he’s got a good argument, just we need to get our heads together and work as a community.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.