Deddeda Stemler For The Globe and Mail
A handful of former University of Victoria bunnies that escaped a government-approved sanctuary in Coombs last month remained on the lam this week as animal rights volunteers raced to meet a Thursday deadline for the installation of a rabbit-proof barrier around the entire facility.
"I'm at the site right now tracking some errant rabbits and co-ordinating some fencing that's still left to do," said Susan Vickery of the Earth Animal Humane Education and Rescue Society, which took in about 270 relocated UVic rabbits last month.
"The new fence is looking great… I think the ministry is going to see that 98 per cent of the bunnies are under wraps."
Ministry of Environment officials ordered a review of the sanctuary's permit after dozens of rabbits broke out of their pen at the World Parrot Refuge in Coombs on Sept. 28 and wandered onto a neighbouring horse pasture.
A local trapper hired by the property's owner shot and killed about 30 of the escapees before Ms. Vickery arrived from her home on Salt Spring Island three hours later and began recapturing the remaining rabbits.
The new fence, resembling heavy-duty stucco wire, is anchored to wire mesh "plates" buried in the ground that should prevent the animals from tunnelling to freedom and another "slaughter."
"We're going to make sure that something like that can't happen again," Ms. Vickery said.
Under B.C.'s Wildlife Act, the ministry can seize animals from sanctuary operators deemed to be in violation of their permits.
Ministry of Environment spokesman David Currie confirmed that staff will meet with Ms. Vickery on Thursday, but said rabbit removals are not on the agenda.
"We're just working with them to bring them into compliance," he said.
The bunnies in Coombs were relocated from UVic in September as part of efforts to remove up to 1,500 of the estimated 2,000 feral rabbits on campus.
The university had planned to capture and euthanize the pesky, prolific mammals, but backed off after activists secured a court injunction against the proposed cull program in July.
While the courts upheld UVic's right to kill rabbits on its property, school officials opted for a "non-lethal solution" in which the animals are turned over to animal rights groups, spayed or neutered, and transferred to licensed sanctuaries.
UVic captured about 400 in September, and Ms. Vickery said school officials have advised her of plans to remove several hundred more in the coming weeks.
The new fence in Coombs will cost about $5,000. Ms. Vickery also provided $2,000 to build an enclosure for about 30 UVic rabbits at a sanctuary near Cowichan Station.
However, she said money has not been an obstacle thus far, noting that over a four-week period in the summer, her organization raised more than $100,000 for spay-and-neuter and relocation costs.
The society has also been advised it can expect a sizable donation from Richmond's Tibetan Buddhist community thanks in part to a recent visit from action film star Steven Seagal, a devout Buddhist.
World Parrot Refuge co-founder Wendy Huntbatch said Mr. Seagal stopped in at the refuge early this month while he was in Coombs for speaking engagement.
"He was quite dismayed when he heard the bunnies had been shot," Ms. Huntbatch said.
About 1,000 UVic rabbits are destined for an animal sanctuary in Texas that has offered to take part in the relocation effort.
Special to The Globe and Mail