Wild rabbits of Jericho Beach

Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Wild rabbits of Jericho Beach: The hares are still there (Photo set)

Let's hang out with some beautiful beach bunnies. Learn more about their place in Vancouver.

Jordan Yerman Posted: Sep 12th, 2013 http://www.vancouverobserver.com/city/wild-rabbits-jericho-beach-hares-are-still-there-photo-set

Surrounded by beach bunnies

The other day I brought my camera down to Jericho Beach to photograph my friends, the wild rabbits. Encouraged by last summer’s wild rabbit photoset, I wanted to expand my rabbit portraiture. However, it took a few visits to amass enough images to satisfy. Where are all the rabbits? With all the construction along Jericho Beach, those with whom I spoke professed a sense of dread: Was the rabbit population displaced? “There just aren't as many here as there were last year,” said the elderly woman, sitting on a bench at Jericho Beach Park, gazing out across the lawn toward the beach.

Behind her, two rabbits sat grazing silently on the tasty, tasty grass. They sensed movement, and in a flash they were gone.

We got the bunnies, honey

Jericho Beach is home to a large and celebrated feral rabbit population. Visiting them is popular with children and grown-ups alike. Jericho Beach is like so many other neighbourhoods in Vancouver: a voiceless community is threatened by development, their way of life in question.

In this case, we’re not talking about condo towers, but a new wharf. The Marginal Wharf was a little too marginal, and the City decided that it had to go.

What would this mean for the rabbits of Jericho Beach?

Rabbits are silent, and they are extremely sensitive to noise, as the relative size of their ears would suggest. The Beach Bunnies hate joggers talking on their phones almost as much as they hate helicopters flying overhead, which perhaps they see as particularly fearsome owls. You can imagine how they’d feel about heavy construction equipment, especially if a bulldozer came anywhere near their ‘hood.

Or maybe my rabbit friends’ priorities have changed since last summer. You know how it is, you have 17 kids, you can’t just go hang out at the drop of a hat.

No coney is an island

Vancouver Parks Board Chair (and skateboard activist) Sarah Blyth spoke with me about the Jericho Beach renovation project and its impact on the rabbits. “There was concern with the redevelopment [and how it would affect] the bunnies.”

The City consulted several conservation groups, including the Rabbit Advocacy Group, on how to keep the Jericho Beach rabbit population safe during the renovation process. In an email, Carmina Gooch of the Rabbit Advocacy Group writes, "We had regular meetings with Park development and operations staff throughout the project. Our primary concern was that the habitat, such as the blackberry bushes, would be cut back too much and too fast, leaving the rabbits more vulnerable to predators than they already were. We were notified of planned work and did walk-throughs throughout the stages of the project."

Said Blyth, “We were very, very interested in making sure the bunnies were okay. Safety was at the top of mind during the whole thing.”

There wasn’t any sort of rabbit cull during the wharf demolition, nor were the rabbits forcibly relocated. Rather, the park's renovation was carried out around the rabbits and their habitat. “We hired a biologist to look at that. […] Everyone was together on the fact that the bunnies were to be okay during the renovations.”

Blyth mentioned that the rabbit population changes based on time of year, and she would know: Blyth takes her son down to Jericho to visit the rabbits all the time. As is often the case with all things fluffy, it’s not really about the kid: “I keep a close eye on the bunnies, because I love them.”

Rabbits are not native to Point Grey, but look, they’re there now, and they have a right to exist. A lot of these Beach Bunnies are abandoned pets, or, as Blyth put it, “apartment-reject bunnies”. Those enamored of rabbits quickly find out what high-maintenance pets they are, and sometimes abandon them to the wild. Those not so enamored of rabbits see them as pests, rapaciously laying waste to precious gardens. Rarely is a creature so simultaneously loved and loathed.

Wherever you fall on the Bunny Love Spectrum, you must concede that a beach makes a better destination than a Richmond car dealership. Ditching your pet rabbit in the middle of a city marks it for death.

As part of the consultation process for the wharf demolition, several conservation groups suggested signange discouraging visitors from feeding the rabbits. If they’re gonna make a go of living in the wild, it’s better for all of us to leave them to it.

Sometimes the best way to help is to stay out of the way, but that’s what Blyth says the City has done. “Yeah, I mean, we’re bunny lovers. Who wouldn’t love a bunny?”

Lapin it up

Just because you cannot see the Jericho Beach rabbits, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Beach Bunnies are virtually invisible when hiding in the bushes, and you scare them away as you crash up the dirt paths in search of that magic rabbit photo moment. However, you should not feed the Jericho Beach rabbits to entice them closer to the camera. Blyth said, “You don’t want the bunnies to become too much of a problem, you don’t want them to overpopulate the area. But they’re not a problem down there.”

Zen and the art of rabbit photography

Getting proper rabbit photos is an exercise in patience. You must be willing to sit still for long periods of time, and get your camera really close to the ground. How badly do you want that shot? I ask because the perfect shot requires you to sit or lie in rabbit poop. Also, rabbits have been known to... how do I put this delicately... spray each other with piss, and, by extension, any photographer who gets too close. Male rabbits do this to mark territory and ward off competitors as they seek mates.

Hey, this is Jericho Beach; did you think there wouldn't be water sports?

You must also be silent, and I mean perfectly silent. Ninja Mode. If rabbits had index fingers, they’d shush you. If they could have jobs, they’d be old-school librarians. You’ll wait ten minutes for a rabbit to turn and face you, only to have the moment ruined by a jogger with too-heavy feet clomping along the gravel path. Learn to let go of your anger.

After the first hour of rabbit photography, you’ll notice something strange. The rabbits stop looking like rabbits, and start looking like other things. Donkeys. Pokemon. Hayao Miyazaki creatures.

My Neighbor Leporidae

You stop seeing your subject as the idea of a rabbit, and start seeing it as the animal itself. You feel it breathing, you sense the inherent nervousness of a critter so low on the food chain.

Shots like this, taken with a fixed 50mm lens, require extra patience, since rabbits aren't cool with your sneaking up quickly behind them. Take one step at a time. I spent several minutes creeping maybe ten feet to capture this image. Joggers kept crunching by, and the lil' guy kept moving forward.

It’s hard out there for a hare

At Jericho Beach, the hills have eyes of all kinds. Says Blyth, “The birds, all kinds of birds, will just come and land on you. They just love people. We thought they were attacking us.” There are also quite a few coyotes out there. Eagles, raccoons, and owls, too. All of these like to chow on rabbit from time to time: it’s part and parcel of living in the wild.

The rabbits of Jericho Beach are fluffy, fuzzy, dare I say cuddly. But don't pick the rabbits up, nor should you feed them. The City kept a hands-off policy, as should we. Gooch adds, "Volunteers continue to monitor the rabbits and we have picked up injured or compromised ones. A continuing problem is people who let their dogs run off-leash in violation of the bylaw."

Blyth summed it up nicely: “We want to just keep our furry little creatures living a decent life down there by the beach. There are worse places to live.” Share this story, as well as the slideshow below, with the rabbit lover in your life.

September 13/13: We are going to Jericho Park tonight to try to capture a Dutch rabbit in need of medical attention. Update: Unfortunately, we did not see the rabbit. We saw plenty of others and also several people with off-leash dogs.

“Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test…consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.” ― Milan Kundera