Tourists Feeding Animals on Japan’s ‘Rabbit Island’ May Be Turning Wild Boars into Bunny Hunters

Tourists Feeding Animals on Japan’s ‘Rabbit Island’ May Be Turning Wild Boars into Bunny Hunters https://ift.tt/SnZf8Xy

“When we first heard that a wild boar had preyed on a live rabbit, we were surprised,” one researcher said

Wild baby rabbits and mother rabbits on Okunoshima Island, Hiroshima, Japan
Credit: Shutterstock

NEED TO KNOW

• A new study reveals wild boars on Japan’s Rabbit Island are scavenging rabbit carcasses and hunting live rabbits
• The island’s rabbit population, descended from European domestic rabbits, has grown due to tourists feeding the animals
• Researchers warn wildlife tourism is disrupting the island’s ecosystem and recommend stricter feeding regulations and monitoring

Japan’s Okunoshima Island, in Hiroshima Prefecture, is famous for the thousands of free-roaming rabbits that draw tourists eager to feed them. However, a new study suggests all those handouts may be reshaping the “Rabbit Island’s” ecosystem and putting the beloved bunnies in danger.

The research, published Wednesday, July 29, in the Journal of Ecotourism, found that the island’s native wild boars have started eating leftover rabbit feed, scavenging rabbit carcasses and, in some cases, hunting live rabbits, according to Popular Science.

“When we first heard that a wild boar had preyed on a live rabbit, we were surprised,” Shingo Kaneko, a study co-author and Fukushima University ecologist, said in a statement, per Phys.org. “Wild boars are known to scavenge animal carcasses, but they are not generally regarded as animals that actively hunt live prey.”

Japanese wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Japan
Credit: Shutterstock

According to the study, the popular rabbits aren’t native to Okunoshima. They’re descended from European domestic rabbits brought to the island, which had been used as a poison-gas testing ground during World War II.

The bunnies’ numbers have since swelled beyond what the natural ecosystem would otherwise support, largely because tourists feed them and leave food behind, helping the species flourish.

Two brown rabbits on Okunoshima Island Takehara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Credit: Shutterstock

However, these tourist feedings are also attracting wild boars in the area and leading them straight to the rabbits.

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“Food left by tourists may be attracting wild boars into the areas heavily populated by rabbits,” Kaneko explained. “High rabbit densities may increase the availability of rabbit carcasses and may also lead to frequent encounters between the two species.”

The behavior may not be entirely new, as noted in the research; a similar case of a wild boar preying on a live rabbit was reported by tourists back in 2017. Boars aren’t the only animals adjusting their behavior. Crows and black kites have also been feeding on leftover rabbit food and carcasses, further shifting the ecosystem on the island.

The authors of the study stressed that predation is not their central concern. Rather, they hope to show how wildlife tourism can quietly restructure otherwise stable ecosystems.

To limit the risks, Kaneko’s team recommends stricter feeding regulations, rabbit population monitoring and vegetation analysis, along with educating officials and tourists about the issue.

“We were struck by how closely wild boars, rabbits, and humans were interacting on the island,” Kaneko said, per Phys.org. “Within this isolated environment, events unlike those we usually observe elsewhere appeared to be occurring throughout the island.”