Officials in Mission Viejo have approved the use of pellet guns to curb the rabbit population in a gated community.
Palmia, a community of about 900 homes, has been plagued by rabbits eating lawns and flowers, the Orange County Register reported:
Under the permit, which is reviewed every two years, shooting is only allowed 30 minutes after sunset and thirty minutes before sunrise.
"When you plant a petunia, the next day it's gone," Jon Goettsch, a member of the homeowners association board, told the newspaper. "We're trying, obviously, not to plant that stuff and to replant with non-rabbit-friendly plants. The majority of the damage is in the yards where they eat the grass right down to the dirt. Rabbits hide in a lot of our vegetation out here. It's a pretty serious problem."
The homeowners association must hire a company to shoot the rabbits, the Associated Press reported.
