SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) –Now that the snow has mostly melted, you may be noticing some bark is missing from your trees and shrubs. You can blame that on the rabbits trying to survive the long winter.

“This year, we saw snow levels higher and covering all sorts of vegetation so they were very limited at what they could eat. When they get desperate enough, they’ll go for the bark and the tenderest part of young deciduous bushes and also trees,” Pyle said.

Dan Pyle, owner of D&K Lawncare, if there is only about 25 percent of the bark left on a young tree, it might last a year but the tree will most likely die.

“Now, on the brighter side of things, on your deciduous shrubs, if they’ve eaten some of that, you can prune back lower than that point of where they’ve eaten and it will come back. It might take a year or two for them to get as full as they were, but they will come back,” Pyle said.

他说如果你re wondering about the life expectancy of the greenery in your yard, give D&K a call.

“I don’t like pulling good plants out either and a lot of these are nice, mature plants that take awhile to grow. So really it’s a little bit of patience but the damage is done in a lot of factors. So this is a great time to replant as well, this next coming up month, to get new plants started — new shrubs and new trees,” Pyle said.