Bunnies being felled by air gun
Don Plant
2008-09-18
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local.php?id=135014

A contractor hired to trim Kelowna‘s feral-rabbit population has spent at least two nights shooting the animals with an air rifle.

Ian Wilson, the city‘s urban forest supervisor, confirmed Wednesday a retired RCMP officer has used a night-vision scope and a human spotter to fire pellets at the rabbits as recently as last week.

“There‘s been some initial work done with an air rifle at night,” Wilson said Wednesday. “We haven‘t revealed when or where things have happened because of threats made against (the contractor) and employees and their safety.”

Animal-rights activists are upset that EBB Environmental Consulting, the Delta firm hired by the city to remove the feral rabbits, has apparently decided to forego more humane options, such as live trapping and lethal injection. They‘re worried that lactating mothers have been killed, leaving their

babies to starve.

“It‘s a cruel act,” said Sinikka Crosland of The Responsible Animal Care Society. “I‘ve got people on the phone crying, they‘re so upset. They‘re saying ’We‘ll go out and do some surveillance.‘”

A message left on EBB‘s voicemail wasn‘t returned Wednesday afternoon. Crosland is also trying to reach the company without success. Supporters tell her they‘re upset baby rabbits and “their favourite rabbits they‘ve been feeding” have disappeared, she said.

The contractor told Wilson on Wednesday that it plans to live-trap the rabbits and “won‘t do shooting for a while,” Wilson said.

Trapping the animals is difficult this time of year because there‘s abundant food and it‘s hard to attract them with bait, Wilson said. Now the contractor is switching tactics.

“There will be live trapping. There are no plans in the immediate future for shooting. Some of the animals will be provided to the local SPCA for adoption,” he said.

When the shooting resumes, Wilson said he‘s confident it will be safe. The former officer has worked with the Canadian Wildlife Service, is well-trained and uses one or two spotters to ensure no people are at risk, he said.

Health officials in Victoria hired someone to shoot hundreds of rabbits that invaded the grounds of Victoria General Hospital in 1999.

“It is very humane, a very quick way of putting down an animal,” Wilson said. “This is not a BB gun. It (the air rifle) could be used to put down a coyote.”

TRACS volunteers have live-trapped about 320 rabbits in recent months and sent most of them to foster homes. About 20 are living in a pen in Joe Rich.

Despite the effort, the city continues to hear complaints about rabbits chewing up lawns and digging into flower beds in Glenmore, McKinley Landing, near the airport and South Kelowna.

Wilson estimates up to 1,000 rabbits are living outside. At least one orchardist planted new trees this year, but the rabbits are destroying them, he said.

An Australian study found rabbits contribute to global warming because they browse on native seedlings, preventing woodlands from regenerating naturally.

“We want to, as humanely as possible, get things back under control,” Wilson said.