Fact-checking Trump’s claims about rabbits ‘caught in’ solar projects

By Clare Fieseler | 10/25/2024 06:24 AM EDT

Studies show that large-scale solar projects are compatible with both wild and domesticated rabbits.

Donald Trump, solar, rabbit

AP, iStock

Former President Donald Trump uttered several distortions about renewable energy at a campaign event Tuesday, including a claim that solar farms are harming rabbits.

Utility-scale solar projects are composed of rows of panels and electrical equipment elevated typically 1 meter or more off the ground so that vegetation, wildlife and sometimes livestock can thrive below. The Republican candidate claimed at a roundtable with Latino voters in Doral, Florida, that rabbits “get caught in” the large solar arrays in the desert.

“I saw a solar field the other day that looked like it took up half the desert. … It’s all steel and glass and wires and looks like hell. And you see rabbits, they get caught in it, for the environmentalists. It’s just terrible,” Trump said.

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There is not evidence that solar farms cause serious harm to rabbits. The comment follows other attacks Trump has made on clean energy on the campaign trail in recent weeks, including arguments that hydrogen-powered cars could blow up.

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