Dear Editor:
Let’s find common ground and a solution to a problem.
Do we agree the domestic rabbit population is out of control and a wildlife attractant?
“It is possible for a single female rabbit to have 48 to 108 babies (kits) within a single breeding season.
“This number doesn’t take into account the offspring that the kits can end up having when they become sexually mature.” Author: Catherine Critz, Staff Writer, PetSocialOnline.com MS, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University.
Do we agree that although we may write about the need for adopting the rabbits rather than using them as food, we are not prepared to open our own homes to said orphans?
Consequently, do we recognize that the three rescue centres in AB that take rabbits could not accommodate ours? [Hoppy Endings Rabbit Rescue; The Northern Alberta Society for Animal Protection; Calgary Humane Society]
Please note UVIC’s revised rabbit plan: “After Feb. 28, [2011] any rabbit found on campus will be humanely trapped and killed.”
Do we agree a component of the solution would be to neuter/spay the rabbits? According to the Canadian Rabbit Vets site there are eight experienced rabbit vets in AB: four in Calgary, one in De Winton and three in Edmonton.
Should you take it upon yourself to humanely capture a yet to be determined number of rabbits, have them neutered and transport them to a shelter, I would be in favour of reimbursing you for your costs (from the “$50,000 in the town’s 2011 operating budget”).
Cathy Drew
Canmore
