Plan calls for campus rabbit-free and rabbit control zones

The University of Victoria's new long-term feral rabbit management plan establishes the grounds outside Ring Road as rabbit-free zones but also designates the interior of campus as a rabbit control zone where a sustainable population of sterilized feral rabbits can remain.Removal of feral rabbits from the rabbit-free zones will begin later this summer and continue over the next year through a combination of humane trapping/euthanasia and community-arranged sterilization and relocation to Ministry of Environment-authorized facilities that community organizations can arrange.

Nine rabbits have already been trapped from the area under and adjacent to L Hut, which is scheduled for deconstruction, and transferred to a sanctuary on Saltspring Island. UVic hopes other organizations or individuals will obtain the necessary permits from the Ministry of Environment to move the rabbits from the rabbit-free zones.

"UVic will trap and turn over to community organizations as many rabbits as they can accommodate in approved sanctuaries," says Tom Smith, UVic's executive director of facilities management. "We ask that they provide written proof that a veterinarian has been contracted to sterilize the number of rabbits they are requesting. It would be irresponsible of us to hand over rabbits to any organization without a guarantee that the rabbits will be sterilized."

UVic has developed requirements to help community members and organizations with sanctioned facilities to relocate the rabbits. They are available at the university's rabbit information website: www.uvic.ca/rabbits.

Smith estimates that over 1,000 rabbits currently live in the rabbit-free zones. They are pets or descendents of pets abandoned by their owners. Once rabbits have been removed from the rabbit-free zones, the focus will shift in 2011 to the proposed rabbit control zone in the interior of campus.

"We think we can maintain a population of about 200 sterilized rabbits in this area," says Smith. "We'll entertain proposals from the public and on-campus volunteers for assistance with the rabbit control zone and for the establishment of feeding stations. However, it is likely that we will initially also have to remove rabbits from this area to reduce the population to the proposed level."

UVic is one of several areas throughout BC and Canada that is wrestling with a growing rabbit population, usually caused by irresponsible pet owners. UVic is supporting the BCSPCA in its campaign to convince municipalities and regions to adopt bylaws making it illegal to sell unsterilized pet rabbits.