Local government officials from across Vancouver Island supported a resolution calling on the provincial government to develop a strategy to address the root causes of feral rabbit abandonment in B.C.

Brought forward by the District of Saanich, the resolution was one passed at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention this past weekend, April 12-13, in Nanaimo. Following a resolution being passed, it's brought to the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, and if approved there, sent to the province for consideration.

Vancouver Island has two kinds of rabbits, both invasive. The eastern cottontail, sporting a brown coat and white underbelly, arrived in B.C. in the 1920s, then the Island in the 1960s, and is a wild species. The other is released European domestic rabbits and descendants, known as ferals. 

During the convention, Saanich Coun. Teale Phelps Bondaroff said the purpose of the resolution was to ask the provincial government to take leadership in awareness campaigns to stop people from dumping rabbits, provide support for management programs to help communities deal with the problem, and ideally pass legislation mirroring bylaws already in place in municipalities preventing the dumping of rabbits and the sale of unsterilized rabbits.

鈥淎 lot of municipalities have their own rules in place, i.e. you can鈥檛 dump bunnies, you can鈥檛 sell bunnies that are unsterilized," he said. "But then adjoining and neighbouring municipalities don鈥檛 have those same rules and as a result, the bunnies just hop into a different jurisdiction, breed and destroy infrastructure, spread disease and are harmed.鈥�

The growing population has been something with which communities have been struggling. One rabbit rescue organization on Vancouver Island had to end intakes, as the number of animals it was caring for was becoming .

According to B.C.'s Wildlife Act, feral rabbits , but a permit is not required for trafficking, possessing or exporting them, captive or not. 

"There are laws that prevent people from dumping domestic rabbits, but the problem is that people still do," Bondaroff said. "The bunnies are everywhere and they breed like, well, they breed like themselves.鈥�

The resolution has previously garnered the support of both the B.C. SPCA and the Fur-Bearers. In a press release, Lesley Fox, Fur-Bearers executive director, said responsibility goes beyond communities.

鈥淭here is a lack of regulations around breeding and the widespread selling of unsterilized rabbits, a lack of education for pet owners, and a clear need for provincial support," Fox said. "We support this resolution as it calls on the province to address the root causes of this issue.鈥�

The Union of B.C. Municipalities will meet from Sept. 16-20.

-files from Greg Sakaki/亚洲天堂 Bulletin