Helena rabbit colony moves into rescue and adoption effort
More than 20 Rodney Street rabbits have been trapped and moved to a fenced shelter, where Helena volunteers are trying to spay, vaccinate and rehome the colony.
Helena’s long-running Rodney Street rabbit problem has shifted into a rescue operation, with more than 20 feral rabbits already trapped and moved to a fenced outdoor space at Last Best Place for Animals. The goal is to study them, spay and neuter them, vaccinate them and, for some younger rabbits, place them in homes instead of letting the colony keep growing.
Lily Vickers, a Carroll College anthrozoology student and the driving force behind Rodney Rabbit Rescue, stepped in after repeatedly seeing the animals living on the streets and deciding they should not be there. She surveyed more than 150 nearby residents, mapped rabbit hotspots and found that 90% wanted the rabbits gone, underscoring how much the issue had worn on the neighborhood as the colony expanded over more than a decade. Estimates of the rabbit count have varied, with recent figures putting the Rodney Street colony at about 75 rabbits and others placing it closer to 100.
The rescue effort now depends on a local network of veterinarians, shelters and law enforcement support. Apex Animal Hospital is spaying and neutering the rabbits at cost, while the Lewis and Clark Humane Society and the Helena Police Department animal control division are also backing the work. Rodney Rabbit Rescue says it is a Montana nonprofit and a project of Carroll College’s anthrozoology program, and Carroll College says the goal is to safely capture the rabbits, fix and vaccinate them, relocate them and tackle the colony one warren at a time.
That structure is designed to shrink the feral population, not just move it around. Vickers has been sorting rabbits by which ones are ready for placement and which still need more work before adoption, and she said most of the rabbits are adoptable. Rodney Rabbit Rescue requires adoption classes so new owners understand rabbit care and the problem does not simply repeat somewhere else. Even with discounted veterinary care, Vickers says each rabbit still costs more than $300 to maintain, a reminder of how expensive even a small rescue can be.
Rodney Rabbit Rescue is also seeking donations and grants to keep the operation going. Carroll College’s Margo DeMello, an associate professor and a leading scholar in anthrozoology, said the work is happening because of Vickers’ drive and organization. The neighborhood’s own history reaches back to soon after gold was discovered in Last Chance Gulch, and the rabbits have become the latest test of how Helena handles a problem that is part wildlife, part neighborhood frustration and now part rescue and adoption effort.
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