RABBITS

Where Have All The Rabbits Gone?

Photograph by

Ragna Ó. Guðmundsdóttir/Artwork Bicnick

Kjarninn has printed a in-depth investigative report on a mystery of lagomorphic proportions: the alleged sharp decline of rabbits in the wooded Öskju­hlíð place of Reykjavík.

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Rabbits are not native to Iceland. The existing inventory of rabbits in this state can be traced back to 2010, from a couple pet rabbits that were launched into the wild close to the Elliðaárdal location of Reykjavík. From that position, they expert a inhabitants growth of sorts. In 2011, rabbits bounded on to a Reykjavík freeway, resulting in a three-vehicle pile up. By 2012, rabbits have been plaguing farms in south Iceland, as they burrowed into hay bales supposed for animal feed, leaving waste inside them.

Several of these rabbits discovered their way to Öskju­hlíð, the wooded area all-around Perlan, in Iceland’s money. For several yrs, it was not uncommon to be on a stroll in these woods and see now-wild bunnies bounding about. On the other hand, Kjarninn journalist Sunna Ósk Logadóttir observed that she has hardly observed them in the spot at all, and reportedly will take repeated walks at Öskju­hlíð. This sparked an investigation into regardless of whether the inhabitants of rabbits at Öskju­hlíð has in simple fact lessened, and if so, why.

Þor­kell Heið­ars­son, the section head of the Animal Welfare division of the Town of Reykjavík, confirmed that the town has taken no measures to decrease the rabbit population at Öskju­hlíð, but has read similar studies on their lower in quantities. No tough knowledge was offered.

Villikan­ínur, an Icelandic organisation that allows rabbits caught in Iceland discover properties, claimed that they have not been ready to verify regardless of whether or not the rabbit inhabitants has declined. They supplied the probability that the population has simply just moved in other places, as the rabbit populace at Elliðaárdal experienced previously finished. Recent building at Öskju­hlíð may well have encouraged the rabbits to go in other places.

Another, a lot more sinister, doable clarification is sickness. As documented very last yr, the Icelandic Foods And Veterinary Administration (MAST) recently been given a report from the Animal Medical center in Víðidalur, warning that a parasite named Encephalitozoon Cuniculi had been diagnosed in two rabbits. This ailment reveals couple speedy signs or symptoms, but is incurable and generally fatal.

Sunna is inquiring that anyone with photographic or video evidence of rabbits at Öskjuhlíð send out them to her e mail, sunna@kjarn­inn.­is.

“This investigation is much from around,” she concludes. “If it comes to light that other enthusiasts of Öskjuhlíð have observed the tell-tale signs of various rabbits then there is a chance that another possibility supersedes them all: that the reporter desires new eyeglasses.”

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