The campus at Australia’s University of Canberra is being overrun with rabbits and officials have decided that the most appropriate solution is to kill them. In the following report there is no reference to the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, where the identical problem was solved using humane methods.
While rabbits are a well known part of the landscape at the university’s main campus at Bruce in Canberra’s north, a recent surge in numbers is causing major damage.
The university says they have been digging holes in the sports ovals, destroying gardens and eating newly planted shrubs.
The burrowing is also eroding the foundations of several buildings which could have safety implications.
UC have spent the last few weeks attempting to get a measure on just how many rabbits there are and locating their burrows.
During the summer holidays the university says it will implement a rabbit management plan to reduce the numbers.
Known warrens will be fumigated and destroyed, and the rabbits that survive will be supplied with carrots to encourage them eat in the same place each day.
UC will then gradually begin swapping the carrots for poisoned bait early in 2013.
The university says it will fence off areas where the poison has been laid to help prevent other wildlife taking it.
Staff will also remove rabbit carcasses twice a day to stop secondary poisoning to other animals who might eat them.
The complete report is online at: http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/15598617/rabbits-run-rampant-at-uni/
At the University of Victoria in BC, rabbits were trapped, spayed or neutered, and moved into sanctuaries. Hoppington Post hopes there will be an outcry against this decision by UC sufficient to persuade them to opt for a humane solution to their rabbit problem.