Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

University officials renew calls for people not to feed campus rabbits

February 20, 2012 By Matthew Gauk, Daily News  

"New" rabbits have been randomly popping up on the Nanaimo campus of Vancouver Island University and researchers are again warning people not to feed the bunnies or release unwanted pets onto VIU grounds.

As part of a 10-month studentled research project, VIU's resident rabbits have for the first time been reliably counted. The final tally, a monthly estimate of 30 to 55, has shocked many at the university who thought themselves fairly overrun with bunnies, according to one professor.

That is nowhere near the number of rabbits that the University of Victoria was dealing with when a rabbit count of 1,400 to 1,600 was made the summer before that university decided to become rabbit-free.

"If people come on campus they think there are a lot because there are little clumps of them," said Liz Gillis, professor in the resource management officers technology program and overseer of the project. "They're quite visible where they are, they're at high densities where they are."

Fourth-year biology student Megan Jenkins and her advisors have since June been trapping and tagging campus rabbits and then observing their population fluctuations several times a month.

Now wrapping up her research, Jenkins recently wrote an editorial in the student newspaper The Navigator, pleading with people to act responsibly with the rabbit population lest a "a major problem" develop. "Even when they're not actually physically feeding them, I see lettuce and carrots all over the grass," she said.

She said she has seen a number of strange rabbits in her travels, which means they're either hopping in from green zones on the campus's periphery or getting dropped off by people who no longer want to keep them as pets.

One of their findings is that unlike native species the rabbits are trying to reproduce throughout the winter season, although none of their young are surviving. "The fact that we have year round breeding here is significant in that it does mean the potential for the population to increase is here year-round," said Gillis. Predation by feral cats and redtailed hawks is likely keeping the younger rabbit population where it is, said Gillis.

By the time Jenkins stops counting rabbits next summer, researchers will have a complete population baseline from which to continue their work. Gillis plans to help other students carry on the research for the next few years so that a clearer picture can emerge about the rabbit populations and the school can nip any future problems with population growth in the bud. "I think most people will tolerate a certain level of rabbits around, and it seems like there are natural ways that that's being kept in check," she said. "It's being done without requiring any sort of active management."