Before you cut the grass, check for baby rabbits, viral video warns - Action News
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Before you cut the grass, check for baby rabbits, viral video warns

Jared Houliston, owner of Ontario Wildlife Removal, says he gets multiple calls a week from people who have accidentally hit rabbit nests with their lawn mowers.

Wildlife removal specialist often gets calls from people who have run over bunny nests

Backyard bunnies video goes viral

7 years ago
Duration 1:12
Ontario wildlife removal expert Jared Houliston's video on how to avoid mowing over rabbit nests has been shared millions of times.

That patch of brownon your lawn might be more than dead grass. If you peel it back you mightfinda little nest of baby rabbits, squirming just under the surface.

As the spring months come along, I get tons of calls saying 'I was just cutting my grass and I ran over a rabbit's nest.'- Jared Houliston

Jared Houlistonknows all about those hidden nests under dead grass.And now, warning others to look out for them has turned into a bit of internet fame for him.

Houliston, who owns Ontario Wildlife Removal Inc. inBrantford,Ont., made avideothatwarns people to check for rabbit nests before they mow their lawns. That video has now beenviewed more than three million times.

He has fielded dozens of calls this week from viral internet sites wanting to know the story behind the video.

Houliston posted it to Facebook in late May after he uncovered a nest of tiny rabbits just under the surface of a client's lawn. And apparently, that's not unusual.

He gets multiple calls a week from people who don't see the nests and hit baby rabbits with theirlawn mowers, he said. He wants people to check before they mow.

"As the spring months come along, I get tons of calls saying 'I was just cutting my grass and I ran over a rabbit's nest,'" he told CBC News. "I noticed I was receiving more and more of those calls."

When rabbits are first born, he saysin the video, they look like "little dots." So people should scan their lawns for dead patches before they cut.

And if people don't want the rabbitsthere, they don't have to fear, Houliston said. They grow quickly, and within two weeks they'll hop away on their own.

Houliston is surprised by the attention the video is getting. But he's pleased the message is spreading.

"It happens everywhere, except people don't know about it," he said. "Maybe that's why it's getting shared so much."