Rabbit damage to trees: angled cuts and girdled trunks, as extension services describe it

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Rules on controlling rabbits differ by place, and the University of California note below describes one state's wildlife code, administered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The page describes what the sources say the damage looks like and the guards they list. It does not say what to do about any tree or animal. For protected species and nests in tree work, see the guide on wildlife and the law.

What the damage looks like

South Dakota's forest health update of February 5, 2020 says a rabbit that browses off a shoot makes a clean bite at close to a 45 degree angle rather than tearing the tissue. It says rabbits chew at or above the snow line, where voles feed closer to the soil, and that small round droppings around a plant are another sign. UC IPM's Pest Note on rabbits (revised August 2022) uses the same description: a characteristic diagonal 45 degree cut on woody twigs, saplings' buds or flower heads, as if made with a knife. It says most damage is close to the ground except where snow lets rabbits reach higher, and that it is easy to mistake for deer browsing until the height is checked: deer damage above about 2 feet, and a ragged break from twisting and pulling, point to deer.

On bark, UC IPM says rabbits tend to gnaw the smooth, thin bark of young trees while rough bark on older trees discourages it. The University of Kentucky Extension workbook for Christmas tree plantations describes girdling near the base of the tree with tooth marks usually visible, or clipping of terminal buds and twigs, with tracks and small round droppings usually confirming it. Iowa State University Extension says rabbits feed on the tissue between bark and wood, and if they remove it all the way around the trunk the tree is effectively girdled. It lists crabapple, apple, pear, redbud, honey locust, serviceberry and winged euonymus among plants often damaged in winter, and says nearly all small trees and shrubs can be hit when food is scarce.

When it happens

Purdue University and the USDA Forest Service (FNR-216, hardwood plantations) say rabbit damage occurs when trees are dormant, winter through early spring, shows as sharp slanting cuts, and becomes rare once trees resume active growth. They note rabbits are often blamed for deer damage but can seriously damage young trees, chewing stems off newly planted trees and scraping bark from patches on some species. Iowa State says damage is most likely when food is scarce during prolonged snow cover.

Whether the sources call it harmful

Iowa State says girdling destroys the tree by cutting the downward flow of food from foliage to roots, that all growth above a girdled area eventually dies, and that many severely damaged deciduous shrubs eventually recover from basal shoots over several years. It also says no applications are known that mitigate the effects of rabbit damage, and that wound dressings, pruning paints and wrappings do not help. It describes bridge grafting as a procedure some girdled trees can survive, and difficult for home gardeners. Kentucky says complete girdling can kill a tree and heavy browsing can disfigure shape.

Guards the sources list

Iowa State lists chicken wire or hardware cloth fencing around vulnerable plants as the most effective measure in a home landscape, along with white corrugated or spiral tree guards, tall enough that rabbits cannot reach over after heavy snow. UC IPM calls fencing probably the most effective long-term way to protect plantings, and also covers repellents and trapping. Purdue and the Forest Service list shorter cages and tree guards for rabbits where deer are not a problem. South Dakota says trapping is not effective for a long windbreak and that live-trapped rabbits released in unfamiliar territory shorten their already short lives, and it names removing ground cover and hiding cover as the best way to manage voles and even rabbits. The sources give heights and burial depths that differ by setting, so the figures are best read in each publication.

Legal status as UC IPM reports it

UC IPM says the California Fish and Game Code classes jackrabbits, cottontails and brush rabbits as game mammals, that the code lets an owner or tenant control them when they damage crops, landscaping or gardens, and that a trapping license is needed for trapping rabbits for hire or profit. Other states and countries have their own rules, which are not covered here.

The look-alikes on this page are deer (the deer damage page) and voles, whose gnaw marks the sources say are smaller and irregular, covered on the vole damage page. The group is listed on wildlife damage to trees.