There are also several safe, effective repellents available that you can sprinkle/spray on desirable plants that seem to attract rabbit attention. Some smell horrid when first applied, others (I've use one that is blood meal based) don't smell bad unless you want to get up close to the powder. These need to be re-applied as directed, and they work best in my experience if you provide alternate fodder for the rabbits as carrieebryan suggests. When we were first establishing our beds and had a lot of lawn, we had the most problem, as there wasn't a lot to eat. We made sure we planted some vigorous wildlife-supporting plants that we didn't mind the rabbits getting at, as well as putting clover in the lawn. Now we only really have to protect the occasional new planting and the in the later winter, shrubs and trees.
Besides wild strawberries and clover, we use a variety of native grasses, including buffalo grass (a rabbit favorite) path between two native plant garden beds. We use some native clovers, and a lot of echinacea in the flower beds. Planting dense swaths of a species like these allows the rabbits to thin them but still have attractive splashes of flowers. If you use the 'keep space around every individual plant specimen' style of gardening, any damage to an individual specimen leaves a hole in your garden, while a more dense style of gardening allows for some loss that still looks good. Even if you reduce your rabbit population, you'll still take some damage, so adopting a gardening style that tolerates some is prudent (if you don't already). And, unless you plan to police your whole neighborhood for rabbits, they will come back.
I am not sure of the safety of eating one way or another.
