IS THIS WHAT IS TO COME??? WATCH OUT VICTORIA AND UVIC
It is an unfortunate irony that at a time of
year when rabbits are considered to be the symbol of hope and renewal,
the University of Victoria’s administration chooses such a time to
announce their plans to slaughter the feral rabbits residing on their
campus.
As someone who was deeply involved in the feral rabbit
situation in Kelowna, I can only sympathize with Victoria’s citizens who
are, as yet, unaware of the possible disruptions and crisis to come. As
history tends to repeats itself I believe Victoria’s citizens can
expect to experience the following:
-Hot debate about rabbits, in
the editorials, on the busses, in the streets, between neighbours.
Expect some of those debates to become disturbances.
-Demonstrations
and rallies, as those who believe there is another way besides the
slaughter try to build support for a humane solution. The Wednesday,
April 20th gathering at UVic is just the beginning of a long campaign.
Expect the crowds to get bigger each time.
-Vandalism, as some
citizens chose inappropriate ways to show their horror and frustration
at the killings.
-Citizens risking life, limb and public and
private property to rescue the rabbits, literally stealing them from the
streets and campus. Expect some of those rabbits to be released in
‘nice places’ around town, creating an even larger problem.
-Citizens
who will begin their own poisoning campaigns while other will show up
at the killing fields with their own weapons, ‘just to help out’.
-Victoria
becoming the butt of editorial cartoons across Canada and beyond. News
editors love these stories, although your own media will become very
tired of reporting about rabbits. Expect some important issues in the
battle for the rabbits lives to go unreported even though the rabbit
issue is likely to become the news story of the year.
- Tourists
paying close attention to the situation while they are with you. Expect
them to take their stories home with them.
-Victoria making the
front page of PETA and other such sites, always good for worldwide
publicity, prompting emails and calls from all over the world, and more
everyday as word of the slaughter spreads. Wait until the desperate
letters from schoolchildren start arriving.
-Exterminators being
harassed and followed, with rabbits sent to ground or scattered before
they can arrive.
-Exterminators caught (and perhaps even
recorded) doing something so horribly cruel to a rabbit (like stomping a
wounded animal to death) that the public outcry drowns out any cull
arguments, the public demanding a humane solution, though not before
Victoria is established as a killing ground on YouTube and beyond.
The
previous list is not imagined, it is a partial telling of events that
happened during the two years it took to resolve Kelowna’s feral rabbit
situation. In the end, Kelowna adopted a humane solution of live
capture, sex separation, foster programs for appropriate animals and
sanctuaries for those remaining. Food, care and bedding are provided by a
combination of public and private funds and volunteer labour. Of the
original fifteen hundred feral rabbits condemned to die, more than one
thousand were saved.
Unfortunately, Victoria is about to go
through an ugly, heartbreaking chapter in its history for no better
reasons than the ego and ignorance of those who have been placed in
positions of responsibility for the lives and deaths of UVic’s feral
rabbits. The rabbits only hope now is for Victoria’s citizens to
realize, hopefully sooner than later, that a humane solution is not only
available but also has greater long term benefits than any short
sighted cull could ever produce.
To those who believe there is a
better way, I ask you to add you voice to the debate, speak for those
who have no voice.
To the citizens of Victoria, I again offer my
sympathy, and I wish the City luck, as I expect it will need it.
Roxane
Woldenga
Summerland, B.C.
BunnyLuv Rabbitry
www.lionheads.ca
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