http://www.westcoaster.ca/oceanside/9955-UVic-Rabbits-Escape-Sanctuary-Shot-Dead.html
UVic Rabbits Escape Sanctuary, Shot Dead 30/09/2010 16:13:00
Jan Beecher
Rabbits rescued from the University of Victoria were shot in Coombs this week after they escaped from their new sanctuary.
David Currie, a Ministry of Environment spokesman, said his Nanaimo office received a complaint from a woman who said rabbits had strayed onto her property from the neighbouring permitted-rabbit sanctuary at World Parrot Refuge.
âWe can also confirm, the neighbouring resident did contract a nuisance trapper to destroy the rabbits that were on her property,â said Currie.
According to Currie, the shooting was within the rights of the property owner because rabbits are Schedule C wildlife.
âSchedule C wildlife can be captured or killed anywhere and at any time in B.C.,â he said.
The University of Victoria rabbit issue has received nation-wide attention after a court injunction July 30 stopped UVicâs original rabbit management plan â to potentially trap and euthanize approximately 1,600 rabbits that reside on campus.
In May, 94 rabbits were culled in a trial run of the plan.
The University managed to have the injunction set aside in late August.
From that point on university operations were allowed to humanely trap rabbits and hand them over to permit holders.
The permit holders had to meet requirements set out by the Ministry of Environment. Permit orders had to prove their accommodations satisfied the rabbitsâ health and well being and prevented the animals from escaping. Permit holders were also required to prove the rabbits were sterilized.
According to university officials, two individuals came forward to take the rabbits â one of them was the Earthanimal Humane Education and Rescue Society, operated by Susan Vickary, out of Salt Spring Island.
Vickary has worked to get three permits: one at her property on Salt Spring Island, one at Cowichan Station and one at Coombs, which was on the World Parrot Refuge grounds. Cowichan Station can take 30 rabbits, Coombs is permitted for 350.
âI think itâs very unfortunate because she has worked hard to find a home for them,â said Tom Smith, executive director of facilities at UVic.
He said UVic has to date handed over 254 rabbits to Vickary.
âWhen we turn them over they are counted â we keep track to make sure they donât exceed the permit.â
Smith says there have been 402 rabbits removed since the trapping resumed.
âThereâs another wave of babies coming,â he said.
Female rabbits that were lactating when they were captured were set free to return to their babies â but if the animals were pregnant when trapped, the babies became the responsibility of the permit holder.
The remainder of the rabbits, 148, are headed to Texas, to the Wild Rose Rescue Ranch.
That operation is being led by Lara-Leah Shaw, a realtor and activist on the mainland, who has a permit to take up to 1,000 rabbits.
The ministry is still investigating the Coombs rabbit shooting.
Currie said that failure to comply with the terms of the permit to possess rabbits under the Wildlife Act could result in the permit being cancelled and denial of further applications.
