A series of quick snips could cut down on the University of Victoria's problem rabbit population, says a local veterinarian.

Nick Shaw, owner of Shaw Pet Hospitals, is offering free vasectomies to male bunnies hopping around campus.

Shaw, who has three clinics in Greater Victoria, said he would be willing to pick up most of the costs, provided he and his staff could hold fundraising events to help defray expenses.

"My staff had some wonderful ideas on how to promote it and we could sell buttons and ask for donations to support the program," said Shaw, who added the normal cost for a rabbit vasectomy would be about $100 for an individual and $60 each for a bunch of bunnies.

Shaw first approached the university about a year ago, at the suggestion of lab assistant Tamara Lovegrove, a UVic graduate who was willing to mobilize her student friends to round up the male rabbits.

But Shaw was told there would first have to be a bunny count. "Then they would just never commit to anything," he said.

However, with a growing rabbit population and a fracas this week over a student-newsletter article that recommended killing the rabbits and cooking them in a savoury stew, the university is now interested in talking to Shaw.

"It's a very generous offer he's making. Someone from the university will be contacting him and we would like to continue this conversation," said spokeswoman Patty Pitts.

Vasectomies would be much more effective than spaying or neutering, said Shaw. The males remain territorial because the testicles are still intact, meaning they would chase out invading males, and the females will only go out of heat once they have mated, whether or not they are impregnated.

That means the rabbits can continue doing what rabbits do best, "but when the rabbit ejaculates there is no sperm in the fluid," said Lovegrove, who has worked at Shaw Pet Hospitals for about three years.

Shaw believes each of the eight veterinarians on staff could do two or three bunny vasectomies a day, which would soon make a dent in the population.

"The students could start capturing the male bunnies and bring them in a few at a time and we could start taking care of them," he said.

Students could be taught to tell the males from females and, once the operation was completed, the rabbit would have a hole punched in its ear to identify it as a vasectomized bunny.

"We hope we could develop a technique for doing it very quickly. Some of the initial ones will be test cases," Shaw said.

"It's much better than what was being proposed. I'm not in favour of bashing their heads on the ground."

Shaw said he can't promise to provide vasectomies for every single rabbit, but he believes the campaign could have applications in other communities where there are problems with feral animals.

"I think we would try and write up a paper on it later, looking at the statistics -- humane treatment for feral rabbits," he said.

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com
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