REGINA – When kids think of rabbits, Bugs Bunny and the Easter Bunny come to mind first.
This spring in Regina, however, homeowners are starting to notice the damage those soft cuddly creatures, along with voles and mice, have caused during the winter.
“They feed on the grass, they feed on the bark of the small young trees and shrubs and that’s their food source,” said City of Regina pest control manager Ray Morgan. “Once the rodent chews that certain area off, it could be two inches wide, it cuts off the circulation to the tree, and the tree basically dies.”
Trees and yards are showing the after effect of the rodents’ winter feast. Their population rises and fall in cycles – this happens to be an up year – but the weather is also to blame. Winter was long with lots of snow and the rodents needed to eat.
The damage is noticeable on young trees. In newer neighbourhoods like Harbour Landing, the city says it is so bad that quite a few trees will have to be replaced, and it is not cheap with those trees typically costing about $100.
Tim Van Duyvendyk, the owner of Dutch Growers Garden Centre, says more calls have been coming in than normal about damage from spring pests.
Many people realize they will have to buy a new tree after planting one last year, but Van Duyvendyk says there are some ways to prevent having to do that every single spring.
“There’s a white, sort of plastic coil that you can wrap around the trunk so you can stop the voles as well as the rabbits,” he explained.
It is important to remove the coil in June to let the tree breathe, but once fall rolls around it is time to put it back on again. Another method is to use a spray.
“It leaves a bitter taste as the animals start to chew on the bark and the branches,” Van Duyvendyk said.
In the coming weeks the City of Regina will ramp up the battle against some other springtime pests: mosquitoes and canker worms.
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