A number of community volunteers, including some UVic faculty members and retired professors, are looking to establish a sanctuary in which to house the rabbits. A permit for the sanctuary has been obtained, and the volunteers are working in collaboraton with the registered charity, Earth Animal Rights (EARS). If you would like to make a donation to help fund the santuary, visit www.earthanimalrights.org (You will receive a tax-deductable receipt for donations over $10). Your contributions are greatly appreciated. Without such a sanctuary, the 1,000+ rabbits would not be adopted by other individuals and organizations by the end of July, when the 'cull' is scheduled to commence.
Our goal is have approved enclosures built by the deadline the university has given, although realistically, we will likely need more time. Please contact the university requesting more time for community members who are actively seeking to re-house the rabbits. Even if we are unable to have the sanctuary ready by the end of July to receive the incoming rabbits, the sanctuary will still serve as a long-term refuge for the rabbits.
If you have not already done so, please contact the university demanding a commitment to adopting exclusively non-lethal methods in the controlling of the feral rabbit population on campus.
University Contacts:
David H. Turpin
President and Vice-Chancellor
250-721-7002
email David with questions or comments: dturpin@uvic.ca,pres@uvic.ca
Ms. Gayle Gorrill
Vice-President - Finance and Operations
250-721-7018
email Gayle with questions or comments: vpfo@uvic.ca
Richard Piskor
Director - Occupational Health, Safety & Environment
250-721-8875
email Richard with questions or comments: rpiskor@uvic.ca
Tom Smith
Executive Director - Facilities Management
250-721-7592
email Tom with questions or comments: tomfmgt@uvic.ca
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Dispelling the Myths
Those who support the 'cull' seem to use the same few, flawed arguments to support their stance. We have went to the trouble of providing succinct counterarguments to prevent further misinformation.
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“If it were rats, there would be no opposition.”
Rabbits are lagomorphs, which are much different in behavior and anatomy than rats. Since these formerly-domestic rabbits have been selectively bred for generations to be docile and companionable, a comparison to cats or dogs seems more fitting.
“Why not introduce hawks or coyotes to reduce the rabbit population?”
The B.C. Ministry of Environment classifies hawks and falcons as “Nuisance fauna” (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/info/wildlife_human_interaction/docs/nuisance_fauna.html) and there are human safety concerns when it comes to high coyote populations. There is already an abundance of hawks and other birds of prey around the campus, and it would be counter-productive to replace one ‘nuisance’ species with another.
“It will be expensive to run a trap-neuter-release program, and the money could be better-allocated.”
In general, trap-neuter-release programs are far more cost efficient than lethal population control methods. The Best Friends Animal Society have released a savings calculator that quantifies the savings of trap-neuter-release programs compared to lethal methods, and they found that the savings exceed $5 billion in the state of California alone. For the calculator and methodology, see http://www.guerrillaeconomics.biz/communitycats/. *Note the study focuses on feral cat colonies, although similar savings would likely occur with feral rabbit colonies. In the case of the UVic rabbits, the savings would be even greater, since local veterinarians have volunteered to perform the vasectomies for free, and community members have volunteered to raise the funds to establish sanctuaries.
“The damage caused by the rabbits justifies their being killed.”
Much of the damage attributed to the campus rabbits is preventable. For example, wire mesh around trees, motion-activated sprinklers on lawns, and better fencing around fields would greatly reduce the amount of damage caused by rabbits. Furthermore, most of the holes dug by the rabbits are created as nests for their litters. Spaying and neutering reduces digging behavior, as this is largely a hormonal behavior that subsides when the rabbits no longer have the inclination to breed.
“Why not feed the rabbits to the homeless?”
Canada already has a massive surplus of food, and it would likely benefit the homeless more if people were to recommend its being distributed among the needy. In the meantime, homeless people would find much more nourishing meals at food banks and soup kitchens than they would feeding off of formerly-domestic rabbits who are not suitable for consumption, as they do not live under regulated conditions.
“At least the rabbits will be euthanized in a humane manner.”
First, applying the term ‘euthanasia’ to this situation is erroneous, since it is typically reserved for the active or passive killing of one suffering from a painful, incurable disease. This does not describe the rabbits on campus. The university has stated that it will adopt one of the methods of ‘euthanasia’ approved by the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AMVA). Read the approved methods, and judge for yourself whether they are humane http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_welfare/euthanasia.pdf. Approved euthanasia methods include: decapitation, blow to the head, neck-twisting, microwave irradiation, maceration, penetrating captive bolt, electrocution and the list goes on.
“ ‘Culling’ the rabbits is the quickest, most efficient way to reduce the population.”
This completely overlooks the cause of overpopulation in the first place, which is the abandonment of pet rabbits by irresponsible pet owners. Under the BC SPCA’s position statement on the feral rabbit population, they claim that the best course of action is to ban the sale of rabbits in pet stores, or at least without first having them spayed or neutered http://www.spca.bc.ca/welfare/position-statements/feral-rabbits.pdf. In addition to these preventative measures, it must be recognized that rabbits breed so quickly that population rebound after a ‘cull’ is inevitable. Sanctuaries and sterilization provide a long-term solution to the overpopulation, otherwise the university will have minimal luck trying to reduce the population while the rabbits are continuously breeding. Some believe that a ‘cull’ will result in a swift reduction in the rabbits’ numbers, although the university has acknowledged in its ‘Rabbit Management Plan’ that trapping is difficult during specific seasons http://communications.uvic.ca/rabbits/assets/pdf/UVic%20Feral%20Rabbit%20Management%20Plan%20June%202010.pdf. The university is best advised to allow community members more time to establish sanctuaries, since most of the rabbits will not be successfully trapped until later on in the year anyways.
“Human life is inherently more valuable than animal life. Animals are unimportant and expendable.”
While people do not explicitly express this attitude, it is implicit in many of their ignorant, and misinformed comments regarding the rabbits. While this assumption is too complex of an issue to thoroughly address here, suffice it to say that human beings do have an ethical obligation to spare the pain, suffering, and death of other species wherever possible. Nobody is claiming that this matter should take precedence over human rights issues or that the rabbits should be treated the same way that we treat humans, but as living, feeling creatures who can be relocated so as not to disturb people, we owe it to these rabbits to spare their lives.
-------------------------------------------------------------
“If it were rats, there would be no opposition.”
Rabbits are lagomorphs, which are much different in behavior and anatomy than rats. Since these formerly-domestic rabbits have been selectively bred for generations to be docile and companionable, a comparison to cats or dogs seems more fitting.
“Why not introduce hawks or coyotes to reduce the rabbit population?”
The B.C. Ministry of Environment classifies hawks and falcons as “Nuisance fauna” (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/info/wildlife_human_interaction/docs/nuisance_fauna.html) and there are human safety concerns when it comes to high coyote populations. There is already an abundance of hawks and other birds of prey around the campus, and it would be counter-productive to replace one ‘nuisance’ species with another.
“It will be expensive to run a trap-neuter-release program, and the money could be better-allocated.”
In general, trap-neuter-release programs are far more cost efficient than lethal population control methods. The Best Friends Animal Society have released a savings calculator that quantifies the savings of trap-neuter-release programs compared to lethal methods, and they found that the savings exceed $5 billion in the state of California alone. For the calculator and methodology, see http://www.guerrillaeconomics.biz/communitycats/. *Note the study focuses on feral cat colonies, although similar savings would likely occur with feral rabbit colonies. In the case of the UVic rabbits, the savings would be even greater, since local veterinarians have volunteered to perform the vasectomies for free, and community members have volunteered to raise the funds to establish sanctuaries.
“The damage caused by the rabbits justifies their being killed.”
Much of the damage attributed to the campus rabbits is preventable. For example, wire mesh around trees, motion-activated sprinklers on lawns, and better fencing around fields would greatly reduce the amount of damage caused by rabbits. Furthermore, most of the holes dug by the rabbits are created as nests for their litters. Spaying and neutering reduces digging behavior, as this is largely a hormonal behavior that subsides when the rabbits no longer have the inclination to breed.
“Why not feed the rabbits to the homeless?”
Canada already has a massive surplus of food, and it would likely benefit the homeless more if people were to recommend its being distributed among the needy. In the meantime, homeless people would find much more nourishing meals at food banks and soup kitchens than they would feeding off of formerly-domestic rabbits who are not suitable for consumption, as they do not live under regulated conditions.
“At least the rabbits will be euthanized in a humane manner.”
First, applying the term ‘euthanasia’ to this situation is erroneous, since it is typically reserved for the active or passive killing of one suffering from a painful, incurable disease. This does not describe the rabbits on campus. The university has stated that it will adopt one of the methods of ‘euthanasia’ approved by the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AMVA). Read the approved methods, and judge for yourself whether they are humane http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_welfare/euthanasia.pdf. Approved euthanasia methods include: decapitation, blow to the head, neck-twisting, microwave irradiation, maceration, penetrating captive bolt, electrocution and the list goes on.
“ ‘Culling’ the rabbits is the quickest, most efficient way to reduce the population.”
This completely overlooks the cause of overpopulation in the first place, which is the abandonment of pet rabbits by irresponsible pet owners. Under the BC SPCA’s position statement on the feral rabbit population, they claim that the best course of action is to ban the sale of rabbits in pet stores, or at least without first having them spayed or neutered http://www.spca.bc.ca/welfare/position-statements/feral-rabbits.pdf. In addition to these preventative measures, it must be recognized that rabbits breed so quickly that population rebound after a ‘cull’ is inevitable. Sanctuaries and sterilization provide a long-term solution to the overpopulation, otherwise the university will have minimal luck trying to reduce the population while the rabbits are continuously breeding. Some believe that a ‘cull’ will result in a swift reduction in the rabbits’ numbers, although the university has acknowledged in its ‘Rabbit Management Plan’ that trapping is difficult during specific seasons http://communications.uvic.ca/rabbits/assets/pdf/UVic%20Feral%20Rabbit%20Management%20Plan%20June%202010.pdf. The university is best advised to allow community members more time to establish sanctuaries, since most of the rabbits will not be successfully trapped until later on in the year anyways.
“Human life is inherently more valuable than animal life. Animals are unimportant and expendable.”
While people do not explicitly express this attitude, it is implicit in many of their ignorant, and misinformed comments regarding the rabbits. While this assumption is too complex of an issue to thoroughly address here, suffice it to say that human beings do have an ethical obligation to spare the pain, suffering, and death of other species wherever possible. Nobody is claiming that this matter should take precedence over human rights issues or that the rabbits should be treated the same way that we treat humans, but as living, feeling creatures who can be relocated so as not to disturb people, we owe it to these rabbits to spare their lives.
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