The local feral population we visit when I get bunny withdrawal [img heavy]

[Pekoe]

Hey fellow rabbit lovers! Hope this is the right place to post this.

I haven't been on the forum very much at all since my rabbit, Merlin, passed away. I'm not sure if any of you remember him:

Anyway, as I'm sure you'll all understand, there has been a hole in my life since he died, all to early at 4 years old. I just recently moved to Vancouver, and my boyfriend discovered a population of feral bunnies at a beach half an hour from us.

Naturally, we have been visiting regularly with snacks. And cameras!

This one was pretty shy.

My boyfriend feeding a couple buns - the little white one was a baby at the time. We went a few days ago and we're pretty sure we saw him again, but he's pretty big now.

Again, the little white guy. I do worry about him due to his colour.

Eating some lettuce..

This guy is VERY friendly... he let us pet him and put his little paws on our knees to get at the treats. We haven't seen him the last few times we've gone out, though.

Me petting him.

Grey guy again.

This one was a little more apprehensive about us.

More pictures here, from another day.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

the colon is missing in your hyperlink destination, but I plugged it in and saw the additional pics. I like the one of the dark bunny doing a hop/binky.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

They are all so cute.

 

[daisyandoliver]

Ohhh. Cute. :3

 

[tmaddox9]

They are all so beautiful!

 

[ldoerr]

Cute It is cool that they trust you enough to do this with. Are you going to take 1 (or more) in and make it a member of the family?

 

[agnesthelion]

The gray one with the blue eyes is stunning!

Aww what will happen with these guys?! Is there a bunny rescue they can be taken too? They are surely just reproducing more and more right?

Poor buns

 

[whitelop]

They're all really cute! But like other have asked, what will happen to them? Could you adopt a pair or so, and try to get a rescue to make a move to get the rest? That is kind of sad, if you think about it. I lied, its not just 'kind of' sad, its really sad. There are so many of them. I don't mean to dampen everyone's joy of seeing bunnies. :/
They look pretty healthy though. I would worry about predators though, especially the lighter colored ones.

 

[fuzz16]

omg i would be taking that agouti home...white diamond and blue eyes!!

 

[MagPie]

Very cute bunnies. I love the little white guy and the grey with blue eyes. I probably would be so tempting to take some home.

 

[holtzchick]

As cute as they are, it almost hurts my heart to know that there are feral bunnies out there, just reproducing like that. Not your fault though, it is good to get a dose of bunny in now and then.

 

[Imbrium]

wow, they're adorable and surprisingly tame for being feral! poor things, dumped out in the wild or bred from rabbits that were dumped . seems like your city could use a rabbit version of a TNR (trap-neuter-return) program to manage the bunny colony so they'd stop reproducing if they can't all be brought to a shelter/given forever homes.

 

[irishbunny]

Oh they are so cute!

I wouldn't call them feral, feral rabbit's wouldn't let you near them. The definition of feral is along the lines of ''existing in a wild or untamed state''. This are more stray or homeless. Maybe some rabbit rescues would be willing to round them up and have them fixed and re-homed. Otherwise it's likely the population will get so large that the council? (not sure what you have there) could just agree to have them wiped out.

I found this here on the forum, might be worth giving them a call.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f19/rabbitats-campaign-update-61394/

 

[Acacia-Berry]

They're not feral..
When my cousin was in Vancouver she told me there were rabbits living outside on the university. Is this colony close to that one?? If not, then Vancouver has a problem!
I really like the blue eyed one! wow.
I'm glad you can go spend time with the colony of domestic bunnies. Perhaps, to fill that hole from Merlin, you can help kickstart a grassroots TNR program. There's no need for domestic bunnies to be out running loose like that, I bet the ecosystem will be affected next. Either by overpopulation or destruction of habitat.

 

[Hyatt101]

I love the pics!

 

[BugLady]

Vancouver is well known for having a feral (abandoned) rabbit problem.
Some of them have become very wild and unapproachable, and some are still "tame".

I've never been out there, but I've heard lots of stories, and follow some of the news. Jericho Park has been the center of much controversy due to the numbers of rabbits and proposed management plans.

Many of the rabbits end up injured in fights, abused by people, hit by cars, eaten by animals, attacked by dogs, etc. It might be cute to see them there, but they really desperately need to be rescued. Many of them are reproducing and harming natural habitats.

Bandaids for Bunnies is one group working out there (in Richmond, nearby), trying to raise awareness and rescue as many buns as they can. I'm sure there are more.
http://bandaidsforbunnies.wordpress.com/

Here is their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BandaidsforBunnies

 

[Pipp]

Rabbitats is rescuing the Richmond Auto Mall bunnies and others, check out www.facebook.com/rabbitats (and please like the page!) and rabbitats.org. We'll be getting more active on RO hopefully soon, just soooo busy with this stuff!

Pekoe, if you're reading this, still looking for permission to use your Jericho pics and credit info, thanks!

sas :bunnydance: