Cats can catch rabbits. Ask me how I know :-) But I'd put my money on coyotes. First, because they are almost omnipresent even to having very urban, city populations, and second because they are probably the most common predator of rabbits. And they are extremely talented at keeping a low, almost invisible profile.

I am afraid I am of the same opinion. We live in more of a city neighborhood than suburban, with small lots and not a lot of woods or anything similar near our neighborhood. Last summer I was up in the night and looking out the window to see how much it was raining. I live one house away from a crossing street and a street light and I always check under that light to see the rain. What did I see plain as day less than 100 yds away from my front door, but two coyotes trotting down the street in the rain, right under the street light going single file down the street. I've lived here over 20 years and never saw one, but according to other neighbors and the town, they've been in this neighborhood for 20 years. I still try to wrap my head around how I could live here so long and not realize that.

And we had a rabbit population explosion last spring. You couldn't walk down the street without seeing three rabbits crossing the road. By mid summer, they were barely noticeable. One of my neighbors who walks her dog a lot, said she was seeing some rabbit carcasses in some areas, toward the end of the summer.

I guess I'll never know, but, I think I have to go with the assumption that they could be out there in my driveway in the middle of the night. We have a 6ft fence along two sides but a 4 ft high fence along two sides. So, not outside the realm of the possible for them to be in the yard too. Luckily we don't have a dog or cat right now, In the summer, I used to not give it a second thought to going out in the middle of the night, to the vegetable garden with a flashlight checking for bugs, but I guess that's going to be something I'm going to be less comfortable doing.

Our old cat (RIP) used to kill rabbits and take a bite or two before loosing interest. Would a coyote leave behind the rest of it's meal?

In addition to all the above you can add fox and owls to the list of rabbit hunters here.

tj

"In the summer, I used to not give it a second thought to going out in the middle of the night, to the vegetable garden with a flashlight checking for bugs, but I guess that's going to be something I'm going to be less comfortable doing."

I wouldn't worry about it :-) I doubt you will see any coyotes - they are extremely skittish around humans and will keep out of sight. They will avoid any human contact as much as possible and incidents of them attacking a human are almost nonexistent.

Jus don't let you cat wander around outside at night. You will be safe - he might not be.

Add hawks to the list too.

Thank you all for all this great input. It makes sense that a coyote probably wouldn't leave a partially eaten rabbit here. There shouldn't be any animal larger than a coyote here. I doubt there is an owl...I've never seen or heard one. I have seen hawks often. Even in the yard a couple of times. And there is a black cat that goes through the yard just about every night.

So, I feel better. And it's probably true, that for coyotes to be here for all those years, without having a clue, then they must be really careful of avoiding people. it is strange knowing there is a wild animal - a group of them - living so close though. I've never lived in a rural area. I'm used to the usual ground hogs and possums and even hawks, so I'm going to have to get used to the idea of coyotes. [g]

Oddly enough, just this morning I was reading a "board book" to my grandson, all about all the creatures and activities that go on at night, when the baby owl protagonist is out and about. The list was huge. ;) Skunks, possums, moths, foxes, some plant flowers opening while others close, etc etc. (Coyotes left out, but yeah - ) It's a big world out there. It was fun to think of it in a different way.

Love kid's books. Reminded me of 'Goodnight Moon' [g] I've seen possums, squirrels, cats, groundhogs, voles/moles, rabbits, chipmunks. No skunks, raccoons or foxes.

Have had bobcats and mountain lions IN TOWN after our many fires!

Wow, Nancy, that is just so sad. Are you in California?

Coyotes can jump a 4-foot fence; they were doing that when I lived in San Diego, and killing & eating small dogs. And while coyotes generally avoid adults, I would be very watchful of young children.

One of my daughters learned to walk at 9 months; she loved walking beside me, so I took her along when I went shopping on the base. She was very tiny & walked amazingly well, it made everyone smile who saw her. It was just getting dark, and we were walking back out to the car in the parking lot, when I became aware of a group of coyotes circling me - apparently eying my daughter. I put her on my shoulder, and started yelling at the coyotes, but they continued to circle. Fortunately someone else in the parking lot saw what was happening, and chased the coyotes away with their car.

My daughter had a second near-miss with a coyote when she was about 2. She was in the back yard playing, and I looked out the window - to see her running toward a scrawny, mangy coyote which was watching her intently from the other side of our 4-foot chain-link fence. Apparently she thought it was a "doggy". :-O That coyote ran when I charged out the door. This was in the middle of the afternoon, so that was definitely not normal coyote behavior.

Our back yard overlooked the edge of a side canyon, with hundreds of acres of wild uninterrupted scrubland beyond the fence. Coyotes were not the only danger, rattlesnakes & tarantulas also came into people's back yards while I was there.

Wow, this is a scary tale, zeedman. I know for sure there are coyotes around here in MN - I had a guy who was here on a service call tell me he and his buddies regularly went coyote-hunting not far from here, and nailed them in the dozens. I was horrified because they're canids and I'm a dog person, but also not-horrified. I've never seen one in the wild, but I've seen droppings on the paths I mow through my wild land that look too big to be from the fox(es) I know are also up there. Ugh. The only possible benefit might be if they keep the rabbit and deer populations down?

That is some story, Zeedman. Thank God your daughter was okay! It doesn't sound like the kind of environment I would feel comfortable in, yet here I am in almost urban New England and I'm worrying over coyotes too. I assume there is less to worry about in Wisconsin?

Thankfully, there are no small children or small dogs at our house. Although now that you tell me this story, my neighbor has a 3 year old girl with a 6ft fenced in yard, so I should mention it to them in case they are unaware. They also have younger twins. I've read that they can get over a 6ft fence too.

Before I saw the coyotes near our street last summer, I'd only seen them in photos. I saw a magazine article with a photo of a coyote lying on a seat on a subway. Amazed me. The coyotes I saw last summer, were not small or mangy and looked pretty well fed. I thought they were German Shepherd's at first glance. But even from 200ft away, they were right under a street light and the tail was a dead give away. Just very bushy and long and held down in a position I was unaccustomed to seeing on a dog. And the way they were trotting single file. It gave me the chills.

@ Northern Gardener - I'm hoping we will have less rabbits next year. That would be one plus. The amount of rabbits we suddenly had last year was amazing.

Coyotes are commonly seen and heard in the rural area I live in. In the spring and fall when we leave the windows open I'll hear packs of yotes yipping and yapping very close to the house at night. When they manage to catch a rabbit the sound of the poor thing screaming is terrifying. Bobcats and foxes are more rarely seen but there are plenty around. I've never seen a mountain lion myself but some of my neighbors have seen them in the neighborhood. Also the odd Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Momo has been reported. lol

I once had 4 or 5 coyote pups come up and drink out of my lab's water bowl in the middle of the day. The dog was in the house at the time and luckily didn't see them or he would have raised holy hell!

Oh gosh, Jack, I would not have thought there was screaming involved. That's awful. One of our kids just got a mini dachshund that's only about 8 lbs right now. They walk in the city and haven't had an issue yet, and they only visit us here. But I guess we have to keep an eagle eye on that dog.

I have always lived in coyote country and use to carry a billy club when I went on a walk in town. But not for the coyotes, but stray or loose dogs. Never had a problem with coyotes, but they will go after small or young dogs. Think about it. Have you ever heard on the news about an adult being attacked by a coyote. Fairly common to hear of someone being attacked by a stray dog.

We did lose goats to coyotes, even lost one after we let the goats out of their pen within an hour and within 200 feet of the house. And my parents were outside. My mom would still go out at night to see what our dogs were barking at. Until one night they came slinking back. Turned out to be a mountain lion. After that she would not longer go out unless she had a shot gun.

There are coyotes here (they must be pretty much everywhere coast-to-coast) but we seldom hear of problems. I see their tracks in my back yard occasionally, following the deer trails - but I've yet to actually see one in the 20+ years I've lived here. They are well fed here, but they will go after chickens. There used to be a bounty on them, my Grandfather would hunt them on his wooded rural property... but it was a pack of wild dogs that was running down & killing deer. DNR gave him & his neighbors special permission to hunt them down. Personally, as someone else stated, I'd rather deal with coyotes than wild dogs.

Cougars are becoming more of a concern here after almost disappearing; the local news showed video of a pair walking up to someone's back door. No sightings in my county yet, but one of my former co-workers the next county over saw some crossing his driveway.

Our cat has brought home many rabbits. Some of the rabbits have been about his size and he has managed to bring them in through the cat door.

Wow, so many wild life stories. It's an education. I guess it's a good thing that animals are not becoming extinct but it's a trade off I guess. From the sound of it, it would seem that coyotes get along in modern society better than most without causing problems.

Dead rabbits in through the cat door? wow.

"Dead rabbits in through the cat door? wow."

Not really an issue about wild predators; but where I have my rural garden, the property owner has two dogs, with a dog door in the back for when their dogs need to "go". The dogs might catch another animal if it is within the fence, and sometimes bring it back in with them when they return - but not to eat. They told me that several times, the dogs have brought in opossums, which were... playing possum. So when the dogs left their play things unattended, the opossums revived & scrambled to find hiding places in the house. :-O Apparently this has happened several times. I can't imagine having to catch wild animals running through the house, especially when they have teeth.

Zeedman - from my experience you would smell a possum with no problem...they reek! Trying to catch them is a different story and I want no part of that. I've had them in my garage a few times and the only way I've found to get them out is using a hose with a high pressure spray attachment. They don't like to take a shower it seems. I'd be closing that doggy door!

"Dead rabbits in through the cat door? wow."

:). Cat door into the garage! He has managed to bring a couple of live rabbits into the house when we've left a window open. O.K. (cat's name) is very good at keeping the house pest free - rabbits, squirrels, and once a bat. Be certain we keep him updated on all his vaccinations!

I would say that it could be a coyote or a fox. I have had a coyote come right up in the yard and growl at me when I tried to scare it off. And a fox will practically get in a deer blind with you. I have had a fix that came to within a couple a feet before catching my scent or spotting me and hi-tailing it out of the area. A fox will come right up and eat dog food or cat food right out of a pet’s bowl. They are opportunistic and will take advantage of any situation to get a meal.

I saw a live rabbit out in the back last night about 8p. It was so bright out there, with snow everywhere, and I was at the kitchen sink looking out and there he was big as life, sitting on one of my raised vegetable beds. So, whatever is making a meal out of rabbits hasn't gotten all of them. They're just waiting for the garden to start growing again. Guess I'm going to have to make keeping them away my biggest priority this year.

We had one side of our fence newly installed last year and they didn't install it close to the ground on a few panels. So now there are plenty of places to get under. Plus my gates are too high off the ground too. I'm trying to decide a solution for that, since I'm really not up to digging a trench all along the fence line and installing chicken wire or something under the ground. I did see this product online called Dig Defense. Looks like a horizontal metal bar with spikes vertically, sort of like a comb looks, only metal. And you pound those into the ground under the fence to meet the bottom of the panel. I haven't checked how much they cost, but would be easier than digging, if my heavy soil is not a problem. That won't help under the gates though.