The proliferation of rabbits threatens the crops of the Lleida plain after a winter of rains that has favored the abundance of food in the area. Experts warn of a demographic increase in spring, especially in municipalities such as Verdú, Preixana, Maldà and Sant Martí de Riucorb, where farmers have already detected damage to cereal, vineyards, olive trees, almond trees and fruit trees.
La Segarra and Les Garrigues, epicenter of the alert
Accumulated rainfall has exceeded 200 l/m2 in La Segarra and 335 l/m2 in Les Garrigues, according to the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation. This availability of food has triggered the growth forecasts for the rabbit population. Rosa Mas, a biologist from the Animal Defense Platform, highlights the magnitude of the phenomenon.
"This spring there will be a demographic explosion of rabbits" - Rosa Mas, Animal Defense Platform
The impact on crops could worsen in the coming weeks, coinciding with the grain-filling phase of the cereal. In Verdú, farmers have opted to leave 200 hectares unplanted given the impossibility of guaranteeing the harvest.
Accelerated reproduction and lack of predators
Francesc Xavier Miarnau, expert in agriculture and herbivore overpopulations, explains that the rabbit population fell in November and December due to adverse weather conditions, but the trend has reversed and the growth rate is similar to that of September. An adult pair can generate up to 200 individuals in two years. Gestation lasts 32 days and the interval between births may not exceed a month and a half. In each litter, between 5 and 8 kits are born, 80% females, which reach sexual maturity before 5 months.
"It is a geometric progression" - Francesc Xavier Miarnau, expert in agriculture
The scarcity of predators aggravates the situation. Between 2014 and 2023, 24,343 foxes were culled in the demarcation of Ponent, the rabbit's main natural predator. Rosa Mas denounces that the elimination of foxes in wild boar hunts has broken the ecosystem's balance.
"The predators have been exterminated without any kind of restriction, and that has unbalanced the ecosystems" - Rosa Mas, Animal Defense Platform
Hunting and repopulation campaigns
During the 2023-2024 hunting season, the first with the declared hunting emergency, 246,909 rabbits, 2,039 hares, and 1,659 foxes were shot in Lleida. Simultaneously, 4,181 rabbits and 83 hares were released to repopulate hunting grounds in the province.
Farmers' claims and insufficient aid
The farmers of Urgell demand compensation proportional to the losses suffered due to the pest. The cost of sowing a hectare continues to increase and Agroseguro policies do not cover most of the damages. The Generalitat has announced two million euros in aid, but those affected consider the figure to be insufficient.
"If we have to feed the rabbits, let them compensate us" - Farmers of Urgell
In some areas, more than half of the cereal has disappeared, totally gnawed. The damage also extends to olive trees, almond trees, and pistachio trees. Farmers warn that if tree protectors are not renewed every month, rabbits chew the shoots and end up killing the young specimens.
The situation in the plain of Lleida remains under surveillance given the forecast of a demographic surge of rabbits that could compromise the next harvest.