When food is in short supply over winter, rabbits will feed on the bark and stems of numerous trees and shrubs. Damage noted the spring of 1996 included injury on viburnum, winged euonymus, crabapple, rose, and other plants. Where feeding injury is noted, remove girdled stems, cutting back to a bud below the injury. If bark has been gnawed off main trunks, wait to see what the damage may be to the top. Additional pruning can be done once the shoots have leafed out and dead stems become evident.
Prevention is the best defense against rabbit damage.
Modify their habitat by removing dense vegetation, brush piles, and weed patches. Also, attempt to exclude them from their favorite plants or plantings. In early winter, enclose vulnerable plants with one-inch mesh chicken wire fencing, two feet in height, either buried three inches into the ground, or staked to the ground. Squirrels often have been blamed for nipping off tips of spruce and hemlock. Rarely have birds been connected with this kind of damage.