Besieged by Bunnies!

Ok..let me clarify right from the start..I do like rabbits.  I have no problem with a few bouncing around the yard and have even allowed Mama Bunny to eat my Boysenberries.  But..enough is enough!  Last year, I counted around twenty rabbits around the hillside.  Again..no problem.  I can live and let live.  I figure that the critters of the Bayou have just as much right to be here as I do.  Still, when these same critters start multiplying like..well, like rabbits, I might have to say there are a few too many.  This evening, I discovered that by being nice to the rabbits, they have rewarded me by eating my pesky Fennel plants!  Yes!  These ravenous rabbits are eating my Fennel!  It never occurred to me that the rabbits would eat herbs so I placed a few in gardens outside the fenced garden.  Things were going well, until I noticed a few branches were snipped.  Now, the poor plant has had a "hare cut"!

Not only are the bunnies eating the herbs, my flowers are being nibbled to the ground. Madonna Lilies must be especially tasty since every leaf is chomped right down to the stalk.  I pondered this fact as I had always heard that lilies are poisonous.  If this is true, why is that hungry hare eating it?  I researched the Madonna Lily and found that contrary to what I was told as a child, the lily is not poisonous!  In fact, it is quite edible.  Hmmm?  Do I trust reference books or do I believe hand-me-down information.  Perhaps, I should just leave the Madonna Lily to the rabbits.

I took to counting the rabbits on the hillside and after thirty-one, I figured it was a losing battle. There were three under Mark's truck!  I gave up trying to do a Rabbit Census.  After all, I could only count the ones that were brave (or stupid) enough to come out in the open yard.  Those staying in the marsh or woods must make up far more than the ones I could see.  Now a question..since I have a "diurnal" Great Horned Owl and its friend the Cooper's Hawk, why do I have so many bunnies?  Are those two spoiled rotten and can only feast upon my feeder-fattened doves?  Not that I wish harm to the bunnies but...I do not need this many!!!