Court injunction stalls UVic’s plans to cull rabits

Legal fur is flying over attempts by the University of Victoria to trap and cull feral rabbits munching through its Victoria, B.C., campus. The University says it has been served with a B.C. Supreme Court injunction preventing it from killing the bunnies.

Trapping has been suspended while the university deals with the court action but a statement from UVic also says it continues to work with community groups trying to find new homes for the rabbits. Rabbit activist Roslyn Cassells, who applied for the injunction, says the move provides some breathing room, because members believe the university planned to cull the rabbits before arrangements could be made to move them.

A farm in Coombs, north of Nanaimo, has offered to take some of the bunnies and a rescue organization in Texas is prepared to take 1,000 of the critters. But, Susan Vickery of Common Ground, a Saltspring Island wildlife organization, says red tape has stalled efforts to obtain the necessary permits to ship the rabbits to their new homes.

If Cassells is able to get a court hearing by Aug 27 and the injunction stands, the university will be unable to reduce the rabbit population that surrounds student residences before classes resume for the fall.

The Canadian Press