Pestern Springs: Ire at pet dumping
Black, brown-gray and frosted pearl rabbits are hopping around in Western Springs Park. No, wild bunnies aren’t getting more colourful — these are unwanted domesticated rabbits that have been dumped in the park by their owners.
Dr Imogen Bassett, Auckland Council’s biosecurity principal adviser, says rabbit dumping is causing issues at Western Springs.
“Dumping unwanted pets such as rabbits causes numerous problems and results in greater populations of feral animals,” Bassett said.
The park has a natural, spring-fed lake, and is home to the native eel, and birds such as the New Zealand scaup, pu¯ keko, pied shag, paradise shellduck and black swans.
“Rabbits are declared animal pests in the Auckland Regional Pest Management Strategy. They destroy pasture and native plants as well as vegetation in neighbouring gardens.”
It’s all too common for people to abandon their unwanted pets outside, but Bassett said “one pair of rabbits can result in 100-plus rabbits” in a year if uncontrolled.
“Liberating pets into the wild is not in the pets’ best interest and can often lead to animal welfare problems.”
She is calling on owners of rabbits and other pets to take greater responsibility for their animals, and to rehome or dispose of them appropriately if they cannot care for them.
Last weekend, a Herald reader saw a woman releasing one brown-gray and a frosted pearl lop-eared rabbit at the park.
“At first we thought she was just letting the rabbits play [but] then I saw her drive away,” said the reader, who did not want to be named.
Auckland Councillor Cathy Casey has been photographing rabbits and other animals believed to have been dumped at the park and one of her staff called the SPCA recently regarding an abandoned Dutch rabbit.
Casey said owners who abandoned their pets in public parks were “abusive” and breaking the law.
“People who witness such acts should take a picture and report them,” she said.
Dumping an animal in this manner is a prosecutable offence under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
SPCA spokeswoman Jessie Gilchrist said the society was getting reports of dumped and abandoned animals “far too often”. She said releasing domestic animals into the wild was not the solution when a pet was no longer wanted.
“A domestic rabbit . . . could succumb to the elements, get sick from disease, be subjected to acts of cruelty, get injured or be attacked by another animal,” Gilchrist said.
Besides rabbits, Gilchrist said the society also often received reports of roosters being abandoned in parks.
Auckland Council’s animal management team monitors rabbit numbers at Western Springs, and control is undertaken when required to manage effects on the environment.