Great rabbit hunt urged But is shooting rabbits, legal, safe?

By Jeff Nagel and
Martin van den Hemel

Black Press
Jul 13 2006

Thousands of fast-breeding rabbits munching their way through Richmond’s farmland could threaten crops elsewhere in the Lower Mainland if they make a beachhead across the river.

And Coun. Harold Steves said it almost happened by accident when rabbits trapped in his city last month were being released in Burns Bog—an ideal bunny-breeding base.

“I had to put a stop to that,” Steves said. “If they get into Burns Bog they could populate the bog and then come out into the agricultural areas of Delta.

“We don’t want to export our problem into other agricultural areas.”

Steves is encouraging Richmond farmers to shoot the rabbits and he says the city should also lead an organized cull.

“We’ll have four times as many rabbits as last year unless we do something about it now,” he said.

But Parker MacCarthy, a Nanaimo-based lawyer whose areas of practice include agricultural law, said farmers shouldn’t rush out with their weapons cocked just yet.

Just because provincial legislation may permit a farmer to shoot any threats to his livestock or crop, MacCarthy said that legislation won’t serve as a shield in the event of negligence or recklessness.

Simple reliance on one piece of legislation, if it conflicts with or is subordinate to another act, is a “risky action plan,” MacCarthy said. “It comes with significant risk.”

MacCarthy said there may be overlapping jurisdictions to consider as well, such as the federal wildlife act.

He’s aware of civil litigation resulting from hunting accidents, but isn’t aware of a situation where someone’s been hurt by a farmer trying to protect his or her crop.

And Richmond RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said he’s concerned about public safety being compromised and said as far as he’s aware, discharging a firearm within city limits is against the law, under the criminal code of Canada.

“Certainly it’s a concern if people aren’t taking safety into consideration.”

He is worried that some unsuspecting family picking blackberries in the dense brush might unwittingly step in the line of fire as a farmer aims his sights on rabbits.

Thiessen said a few nights ago, police responded to the area of No. 5 Road and Steveston Highway, where they found two adults and two children shooting rabbits, intending to eat them.

Shooting rabbits is a complex issue, Thiessen said, with provincial, federal and possibly municipal laws that must be taken into account, depending on where one resides.

Is a farmer going to use a pellet gun, a shotgun, or a revolver? And is that weapon registered, as required by law?

Steves said he wasn’t eager to take on the politically-charged role of campaigning to shoot rabbits, but there were few other volunteers.

“Who wants to shoot the Easter bunny?” he asked. “But we had to bite the bullet.”

Steves blames residents who for years have bought pet bunnies and later abandoned them in the Richmond Nature Park.

More and more people took to releasing unwanted domestic rabbits in the same spot, he said, and the population spiraled from dozens through the hundreds and up to an estimated 5,000 now.

Some farmers have had to replant crops several times this year, and Steves said one farm estimates it has lost $30,000 worth of crops to bunny attacks.

Local community gardens have lost half their vegetables and the food bank, which normally gets surplus produce from farmers, is also expected to suffer.

Shooting the rabbits is the most efficient way to cut the numbers, Steves said.

Capturing them with live traps and butterfly nets is proving slow—they may be breeding faster than they can be trapped.

“It hasn’t dented the population,” Steves said. “The baby bunnies are coming out of the thickets right now. There have probably been as many rabbits born as the 100 or so we’ve trapped.”

The determined bunnies have even thwarted electric fences.

“The rabbits figured out if they took a running leap at it they could get through the electric fence without getting an electric jolt, because they don’t touch the ground.”

The problem of pet rabbits being released and breeding in the wild isn’t only Richmond’s.

Steves said it doesn’t tend to be a problem in open areas, where coyotes and eagles can control the population, but they can survive and multiply in areas of low brush and thickets.

“The whole Lower Mainland is going to have to look at what we allow to be sold in pet stores,” he added.

Too often bunnies are bought at Easter as pets that children tire of within six months or a year, he said.

Other cities in Canada and the U.S. are taking steps to ban or restrict bunny sales to prevent the problem.

“If rabbits are sold in pet stores they should be spayed or neutered,” Steves said.