$20,000 spent to trap rabbits, more left at Helmcken

The Transportation Ministry has spent $20,000 live-trapping rabbits at the Helmcken interchange, only to have more people abandon their pets on the median.

Almost 110 rabbits had been captured and removed from the site when an additional 20 to 30 were dropped off in late June or early July. The adult rabbits are suspected to have been released in a group.

“We’ve been successful with our trapping efforts and working with the volunteer group in spaying and neutering the animals,” deputy regional director Janelle Erwin said. “We got down to three rabbits and then we had more being dropped off.”

The ministry will install a camera on Highway 1 in the next four to six weeks, as well as signs reminding people of the $345 fine for abandoning pets under the Wildlife Act. The concern is that the animals could distract passing drivers and cause people to park in unsafe locations.

Crews will also repair areas damaged by rabbit burrows, including sidewalks, embankments and landscaping.

“It’s not safe for the rabbits, nor the travelling public, nor the integrity of our infrastructure,” Erwin said.

The ministry announced plans to trap the animals at the end of February. It initially estimated the cost at $10,000, but more rabbits ended up being dropped off and born than anticipated.

“It’s an external contract — we went through a process to find someone qualified to do the work and we have a rate for that person to undertake the trapping, which happens in the early morning,” Erwin said.

If the problem persists, the ministry will be forced to consider other solutions, such as euthanization, for rabbits found at the interchange, a ministry statement said.

Veterinarian Laurie Gaines has helped co-ordinate volunteer efforts to spay and neuter the animals, then send them to a sanctuary in the United States. (The group wants the location kept secret because of threats made to some sanctuaries.)

“The first group of 42 is doing well — they are at the sanctuary,” Gaines said.

Another 60 are mostly spayed and neutered and will be sent to the sanctuary around the end of the month, said Gaines. She is asking the public to stop feeding the remaining rabbits, since it makes it harder to catch them with traps baited with food.

Each group of rabbits costs the volunteers about $10,000 to transport to the sanctuary, Gaines said. While the B.C. SPCA has contributed $5,000 for spaying and neutering, transportation depends on donations. “We do not have the financial resources to continue this long term,” Gaines said. The group has a fundraising goal of another $10,000 over the next few weeks.

But some question why so much public money is being used on rabbits.

“I can’t help but question the priorities of this government, when they’re spending tens of thousands of dollars removing rabbits and we have people living on our streets in the numbers we do,” said Kelly Newhouse, executive director of Together Against Poverty Society.