Rabbits target of university campaign
Though many UVic students feed the rabbits for fun, the university discourages this in its new campaign.
They may seem like cute, cuddly little friends, but according to UVic’s new awareness campaign, campus rabbits are feral and need to be treated as such.
“They are wildlife,” said Neil Connelly, Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability.
UVic launched its rabbit management plan in September with posters, brochures and bookmarks.
“This stage is a public awareness campaign,” said Connelly. “I think the recognition is that word needs to get out.”
The message: Don’t feed the rabbits, don’t pet the rabbits, don’t harass the rabbits and don’t abandon your pet rabbit on campus.
Connelly said that feeding the rabbits increases their population, and leftover food can attract rats.
“The food that people give them may not be extremely healthy for the rabbits,” he added.
Connelly said petting the rabbits is dangerous because it is possible to contract tetanus from rabbit bites or get sick from their feces. Rabbits are wildlife, he said, and therefore should not be chased or picked up.
“It’s important that people don’t harass or be cruel to the rabbits,” said Connelly.
Many UVic’s rabbits are actually decendents of pet bunnies once abandoned on campus. The campaign was started in response to the apparent increase of the number of rabbits on campus.
However, Connelly said that the rabbits may also be more concentrated now due to construction forcing them out of the areas they previously inhabited.
The rabbit management plan is an ongoing process that aims not only to change the way people interact with the rabbits, but to manage the rabbit population itself.
Connelly said one of the possibilities is talking with local municipalities about implementing a bylaw that would make it illegal to sell rabbits that had not been spayed our neutered. That way, rabbits abandoned on campus will not reproduce.
Since one female rabbit can have between three to five litters per year, that could leave a mark of control in the UVic rabbit population.
Currently, it is illegal to abandon rabbits on campus, but Connelly said that isn’t something the campaign directly enforces.
Connelly said the next stage of the rabbit management plan will be attempting to control the areas of campus that the rabbits inhabit. In particular, he said they need to be kept away from athletic fields.
“That’s a problem area where they burrow holes,” said Connelly, adding that holes in the field pose risks to the athletes using them.
“We want to keep rabbits away from heritage grounds,” he said.
Areas like Finnerty Gardens are damaged by rabbits that like to eat the plants there.
The university has already constructed a $10,000 fence around the gardens to keep the rabbits out.
Connelly said that more native vegetation will be planted for the rabbits, and the vegetation around areas where the rabbits aren’t wanted will be cut down to prevent them from nesting. Fences will also be placed around new vegetation, where rabbits like to burrow in the soft dirt.
The university will also have to address its neighbours’ concerns that rabbits are migrating onto their properties.
Connelly said the plan contains no intentions to euthanize rabbits.
“There’s been no suggestion around taking lethal measures at this point,” he said.
Connelly also said the rabbit management plan’s intention is not to eradicate the entire rabbit population at the school.
“The university said that rabbits have been on campus for several years and they are likely to have a continued presence,” said Connelly.
Despite the plan, UVic isn’t entirely on board with the campaign yet.
The UVic website for prospective faculty (http://opportunities.uvic.ca) contains a humourous recipe for feeding carrots to the rabbits in its “About UVic” section. The recipe is borrowed from the psych department.
In 1999, Victoria General Hospital’s overabundance of rabbits was causing health concerns due to feces being tracked inside. To combat the hazard, their rabbit population was culled.
2 Comments
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Stacie Oct. 31, 2008, 9:19 a.m.
“It’s important that people don’t harass or be cruel to the rabbits,”. says Neil Connelly. Starving animals is much better. Particularly animals that everyone agrees are domesticated. The Bunnies have been there for many, many years and used to promote campus life.
UVic needs to educate itself. 'Tetanus' can be found more readily in soil and dust....and yes animal waste...or these comments by Connelly. 'Fear' mongering is a standard choice to leverage the opinions and actions of others toward a desired end.
Here's an idea, rather than be cheep, why not stop treating us like morons and open up your wallets and contribute to a 'real' Humane solution like spaying/neutering or organic deterrents that play to the bunnies' fear factor.
I thought this is a University...an institute of learning. What next,
Bunnies constitute weapons of mass destruction.Stacie Oct. 31, 2008, 9:19 a.m.
“It’s important that people don’t harass or be cruel to the rabbits,”. says Neil Connelly. Starving animals is much better. Particularly animals that everyone agrees are domesticated. The Bunnies have been there for many, many years and used to promote campus life.
UVic needs to educate itself. 'Tetanus' can be found more readily in soil and dust....and yes animal waste...or these comments by Connelly. 'Fear' mongering is a standard choice to leverage the opinions and actions of others toward a desired end.
Here's an idea, rather than be cheep, why not stop treating us like morons and open up your wallets and contribute to a 'real' Humane solution like spaying/neutering or organic deterrents that play to the bunnies' fear factor.
I thought this is a University...an institute of learning. What next,
Bunnies constitute weapons of mass destruction.