Please sign the petition to stop the University of Victoria, British Columbia from commencing a mass cull (kill) of the domestic rabbits that have been dumped on campus. Other options such as a TNR (trap, neuter, release) program have been successful on other campuses yet UVic brushes that idea off in favour of a 'quick fix'. Clearly a cull is not a solution because the population will simply rebuild until they decide to have another slaughter. Of all places, an institution of higher learning should recognize this biological fact. This is a time sensitive issue that needs to be addressed in a humane fashion and the bunnies need our help this April 2010! See http://www.uvicbunnies.org for more info.
April 3, 2010
To Chancellor Murray Farmer, Chair - Board of Governors Ray Protti, President Dave Turpin
We are writing in regards to the rabbit situation at the University of Victoria. We are disappointed not only in the University's approach to this conundrum, but the community for abandoning these animals and then turning it around on them by referring to them as "pests". These animals are victims of humanity and the intelligent, moral thing to do is to accept our responsibility in this and come up with a solution to humanely and non-lethally rectify what we humans have done. The population of rabbits currently on campus is so high because the University let it get to this point. How could an institution that hands out degrees in Biology not foresee this coming? It's ridiculous. The quick fix of a yet another cull is not the answer because clearly this has not had a long-term sustainable effect. You cannot keep the population of bunnies at a manageable level without a sterilization plan in place. This has been successfully accomplished with feral cats at the University of Stanford and with rabbits at Long Beach College in California.
Furthermore, UVic must be participatory in conveying the message to the public about the ramifications of abandoning domestic animals on campus. More signs, less false information used to sway the public into thinking the rabbits are dangerous in an effort to justify your killing of them.
Please implement a non-lethal means of controlling the population of bunnies and put an end to this population explosion/killing cycle that is clearly unsuccessful in managing your campus.
Thank you for consideration in this matter.
