Editor:
Ladner's rabbit problem and its solution leave me with a number of questions.
First, the rabbits were in the leisure centre area for some time before the hospice was built. Could a thought not have been given to them before the expensive landscaping was designed and carried out?
There are properties in the area that have rabbits but where the landscaping remains intact.
Second, it doesn't seem to be doing these docile animals a great favour to take them from their comfortable city lives and dump them in the wilds to encounter predators and other risks leading to a painful death. Besides, it seems to me that some years back people were concerned about the rabbits in Ladner Harbour Park.
Finally, I was dismayed by the cost of this exercise, even with, apparently, some reduction in fees by the veterinarians who would do the neutering.
I understand the overall cost is $60,000 for 500 rabbits (more than $100 per animal).
My personal choice (even if I were a rabbit), if something has to be done to get rid of them, would be painless euthanasia. This should be cheaper and more humane than neutering and abandonment in the bush.
In the longer term perhaps we could have an abandoned-rabbit fee (like the recycling fee we pay on electronics) added to their purchase price at pet shops to help pay for the problem. And couple this with a recycling program through the SPCA, wherein people wanting to have a pet rabbit would be encouraged to take a "pre-owned bunny."
I will refrain from suggesting the unspeakable and waxing poetic on the taste delights of rabbit stews I've enjoyed in the past.
Howard Solverson
