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Would a bird of prey attack a rabbit while I'm there?

katie88

Mama Doe
I don't generally let my two free range, even supervised, as we get all manner of animals in our garden including foxes, cats and birds of prey.

However, misfit is a lazy little thing and needs to lose some weight. She gets fed the same as marbles but is a lot bigger, and although part of that is her build I know she is overweight. It'd be so nice if I could give her some supervised free range time as my parents' garden is massive.

But we occasionally get birds of prey flying over the garden and last weekend one flew over just as I was contemplating letting her out. So my question is, would a bird of prey attack a rabbit if I'm right there? Something about them swooping down from above worries me because I probably wouldn't see it coming. But it seems such a shame to not let her free range.
 
Which birds are they?
Many people are under the misconception that Red Kites are a bird of prey, they are not. they only feed on carrion.:)
 
Which birds are they?
Many people are under the misconception that Red Kites are a bird of prey, they are not. they only feed on carrion.:)

They don't only feed on carrion. Red kites do kill their prey as well. Generally speaking they're scavengers, so it's an easy mistake to make!

As for the OP, I wouldn't risk it either.
 
Buzzards are supposed feed on carrion as well but I have heard several accounts of them taking chickens. One of them was a Light Sussex and they weigh about 3kg so not exactly small birds!

I wouldn't risk it either. If there is a open area which they can attack in (by which I mean there are no trees or anything blocking them swooping down and out again) the attack could happen before you've even realised the bird is there. They are very quick. I have also read an account on the hen forum I am on where someone was free ranging her chickens in her back garden (completely supervised) in the middle of the day and had a fox jump out from no where and try and carry one off! Luckily she ran at the fox and he dropped the hen in surprise, and after a trip to the vets she was okay, but it terrified me to think that they could be that bold :shock:
 
IMO, it's absolutely no different from letting a cat out to roam. Cats fall victim to cars and traffic, foxes, dogs, humans and other cats. There is a huge risk but owners still let them do it. In an enclosed garden, there is a risk of foxes, cats and birds of prey. You know the risk, you make your choice. I let mine free range when I'm home but I'm not sat watching them constantly. It's a risk but they have a huge amount of freedom as a result.
 
Oh Gosh!
I would never risk oscar in the garden on his own after we saw two magpies eyeing him up in the garden, they deffo were going to go for him, it's only when we went outside that they decided to go away or they would gave attacked him I'm sure!!!!
 
My rabbit is out all the time and she has been for 8 years, apart from her first few months when her and her mum and sister were indoors as they couldn't run around properly as they had been in a breeders prison 1/3 full of excrement. But she's happy and as free as possible. Each to their own.
Interesting links :) I bet that camera man tripped over his own feet :lol:
 
IMO, it's absolutely no different from letting a cat out to roam. Cats fall victim to cars and traffic, foxes, dogs, humans and other cats. There is a huge risk but owners still let them do it. In an enclosed garden, there is a risk of foxes, cats and birds of prey. You know the risk, you make your choice. I let mine free range when I'm home but I'm not sat watching them constantly. It's a risk but they have a huge amount of freedom as a result.

I disagree, because cats are not prey animals, most are fairly road-savvy, and they are much more able to escape from danger than rabbits (if a fox did decide to go for a cat, it has claws to defend itself, and would be able to jump to a safe place, or bolt home if need be). Rabbits do not have a lot of the street-savviness of cats and would not be able to defend themselves against a predator (and there are a lot more risks predator-wise to rabbits than to cats)

If you are watching them and are not aware of predators in your area then that is different, but allowing rabbits to free range if you know there are predators around is very risky.
 
IMO, it's absolutely no different from letting a cat out to roam. Cats fall victim to cars and traffic, foxes, dogs, humans and other cats. There is a huge risk but owners still let them do it. In an enclosed garden, there is a risk of foxes, cats and birds of prey. You know the risk, you make your choice. I let mine free range when I'm home but I'm not sat watching them constantly. It's a risk but they have a huge amount of freedom as a result.

I agree with you. How I treat my animals and how others treat theirs is all personal to them. Also the op said a bird of prey so technically not a Red Kite
 
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I have had a sparrow hawk and a buzzard come in the garden and neither have taken any notice of Louie.
 
I disagree, because cats are not prey animals, most are fairly road-savvy, and they are much more able to escape from danger than rabbits (if a fox did decide to go for a cat, it has claws to defend itself, and would be able to jump to a safe place, or bolt home if need be). Rabbits do not have a lot of the street-savviness of cats and would not be able to defend themselves against a predator (and there are a lot more risks predator-wise to rabbits than to cats)

If you are watching them and are not aware of predators in your area then that is different, but allowing rabbits to free range if you know there are predators around is very risky.

ALL animals are prey for something and I've lost count of the threads on RU where someone's cat has gone missing or been run over :(. It's a calculated risk to let them outside the house and garden in exactly the same way that it's a calculated risk letting bunnies free range in an enclosed garden. No answer is right or wrong. If you feel uncomfortable allowing your bunnies to free range, don't do it but likewise if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks, go for it. Your pets, your choice.
 
Thanks everyone. I understand this is a topic that people often have differing opinions on. Personally I think I am on the over-cautious end of the scale, but it seems such a shame when I see videos of bunnies running free around gardens. I will give it some more thought.

I am not great at identifying birds of prey but I think it may have been a sparrowhawk. It was big!
 
Thanks everyone. I understand this is a topic that people often have differing opinions on. Personally I think I am on the over-cautious end of the scale, but it seems such a shame when I see videos of bunnies running free around gardens. I will give it some more thought.

I am not great at identifying birds of prey but I think it may have been a sparrowhawk. It was big!

It does get everyone quite heated as people have strong views one way or the other. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of "well I wouldn't do it but I understand why you do" either. It's usually a case of "I'm right and you're wrong" LOL. I do what I feel is right for MY bunnies and not what anyone else says I should or shouldn't do, and that's all you can do really.

I had a sparrowhawk catch a starling in my garden once. It was horrible :cry:. But it would have to be a sparrowhawk on steroids to lift one of my lumps of lard :shock:.
 
We get Red Kites quite a lot round here. They're scavengers, so would prefer to eat road kill and so on, but if it came to it they would hunt, obviously. I let Sonic out when I'm around. He needs more space than a run, he uses two full gardens to speed about in, so keeping him from free ranging seems mean, especially when he's done it for 5 years. Whenever there are Red Kites around he gets very twitchy, so I put him back in anyway, otherwise, if I'm outside, he's outside.
 
It does get everyone quite heated as people have strong views one way or the other. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of "well I wouldn't do it but I understand why you do" either. It's usually a case of "I'm right and you're wrong" LOL. I do what I feel is right for MY bunnies and not what anyone else says I should or shouldn't do, and that's all you can do really.

I had a sparrowhawk catch a starling in my garden once. It was horrible :cry:. But it would have to be a sparrowhawk on steroids to lift one of my lumps of lard :shock:.

I was coming on to post this, awh :lol:

My two don't go outside (Charlie hates it) but if they enjoyed it, I probably would think it was worth the slight risk. I wouldn't leave them unsupervised at all though unless in a secure run.
 
It does get everyone quite heated as people have strong views one way or the other. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of "well I wouldn't do it but I understand why you do" either. It's usually a case of "I'm right and you're wrong" LOL. I do what I feel is right for MY bunnies and not what anyone else says I should or shouldn't do, and that's all you can do really.

I had a sparrowhawk catch a starling in my garden once. It was horrible :cry:. But it would have to be a sparrowhawk on steroids to lift one of my lumps of lard :shock:.

It's a shame when things get heated. I hope that doesn't happen in this post as I really just wanted opinions on whether a bird of prey would take a rabbit with a human right there. I understand both sides of the free range/no free range argument generally.

Well this is what I'm thinking, misfit is a pretty chunky rabbit :lol: she likes to chase magpies so she's not generally an anxious bunny but I'm still not sure how she'd react to a big bird!
 
I follow my rabbits around when they free range. Often they have a harness on too. We pretty much always have birds of prey in our yard or flying overhead so no way could I ever let them free range without being right on top of them, I seriously doubt I'd have any rabbits by the end of 1 day if I let them roam the yard by themselves.

I had a little pekin duckling - just a few hours old - taken by a hawk even though I was nearby:cry: They're like lightning fast so unless you're literally right next to the rabbits (hopefully they'd be too scared of you to snatch the rabbits then) there's nothing you could do to stop them. Every time I've witnessed one grab prey - or try to - I was very close by (sometimes 10-15 ft) and didn't see them coming at all. So even if all I had was red kites I still would feel it's too risky, I'd feel like I'd never know when they might be hungry and unable to find any carrion.

ALL animals are prey for something and I've lost count of the threads on RU where someone's cat has gone missing or been run over :(. It's a calculated risk to let them outside the house and garden in exactly the same way that it's a calculated risk letting bunnies free range in an enclosed garden. No answer is right or wrong. If you feel uncomfortable allowing your bunnies to free range, don't do it but likewise if you feel the benefits outweigh the risks, go for it. Your pets, your choice.

yeah even predators like cats still fall prey to other predators - I guess it's really rare for adult cats in the UK though.

I know you guys don't have them over there, but coyotes often eat cats here, and birds of prey sometimes do too. Just a couple weeks ago, Fluffy, our sort-of cat, almost got taken by an owl. He was sitting in the road in front of our house and an owl swooped out of an oak tree, grabbed his back, and Fluffy reached around and I guess hit or bit at it. It let go and landed on the road and they faced off for a moment and then the owl flew away. I assume it was a barred owl (very common around here) but I wasn't there, my mom was nearby with the yorkies at the time - luckily they were leashed. Fluffy acted like it was an everyday occurrence, he wasn't fazed or hurt at all:shock:
 
It's a shame when things get heated. I hope that doesn't happen in this post as I really just wanted opinions on whether a bird of prey would take a rabbit with a human right there. I understand both sides of the free range/no free range argument generally.

Well this is what I'm thinking, misfit is a pretty chunky rabbit :lol: she likes to chase magpies so she's not generally an anxious bunny but I'm still not sure how she'd react to a big bird!

There is always a risk from birds, including magpies, which often take an unhealthy interest in my bunnies. They like to try to peck them :shock:. But you have to try to put it into context. There isn't a buzzard sat on your roof every day, just waiting for you to let the bunnies out. A buzzard MAY happen to fly over your garden and spot your bunnies. The likelihood is slim but it COULD happen. It's the risk you take.
 
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