UVic Rabbit Killing: Nature Abhors a Vacuum | Please take action

Update | February 24 response I received:

This email is being sent on behalf of Tom Smith, Executive Director, Facilities Management, University of Victoria.

Your email expressing concern about the Feral Rabbit Management Plan decision was referred to me for a response. We are very confident that we will be able to capture, remove and relocate all of the remaining feral rabbits to sanctuaries before February 28th. As a result, no rabbits will be actually harmed. The position that we have taken regarding rabbits after March 1st is directed at those irresponsible pet owners who continue abandoning their unwanted pet rabbits on campus. UVic cannot continue to enable this irresponsible practice.

We deeply appreciate the hard work of the volunteers who have relocated more than 850 rabbits to community sanctuaries, but the permits to remove rabbits from campus expire on March 31st. Setting the deadline for rabbit removal for February 28th provides the permit holders with sufficient time to receive the remaining rabbits, arrange sterilization and recuperation and transport them to sanctuaries while their permits are still valid.

The University of Victoria will continue to support the efforts of the BCSPCA to encourage area municipalities to adopt by-laws prohibiting the sale of non-sterilized rabbits and the abandonment of pet rabbits.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

Suzan Geisreiter
Department Secretary
Facilities Management | University of Victoria
p: 250-721-7592 | f: 250-721-8999
email: sgeisrei@uvic.ca | web: http://www.uvic.ca/fmgt

~~~END~~~


Please write to University of Victoria to demand they cease plans to massacre the rabbits who populate the university grounds.  You may use the Sample Letter below but please modify/shorten so they receive a variety.  Thank you.

From The Victoria Vegan
By Dave Shishkoff

The Alley Cat Allies has published an interesting document called The Vacuum Effect: Why Catch And Kill Doesn’t Work (pdf HERE and also below) researching the efficacy of kill or ‘cull’ programs, mainly in relation to feral cat populations. It’s no surprise to learn that the elements that drew cats to the area will only continue to do so, even when the community is destroyed. Same with other species in other environments, like mountain lions, badgers, raccoons and others.
Doubtless, more rabbits will turn up at UVic. They are currently living off-campus in the surrounding neighborhoods, and other wooded areas. Inevitably, they will also find their way to UVic. And, unfortunately, UVic’s response (at least for now) is to kill them.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

We can understand that UVic doesn’t want people abandoning pet rabbits on campus grounds – we really sympathize with UVic, and the rabbits themselves. This isn’t an ideal location for a domestic rabbit. But as we’ve stated repeatedly, and this is further backed up by this research: instituting a kill policy is not a solution. It’s not an ethical solution, and really just doesn’t work to solve anything, other than ensure some rabbit killing business makes a continuous profit.

Please take a moment to remind UVic’s decision-makers that what they’re planning has been done before, and fails. It will be an endless, bloody process as rabbits will continue to move in, no matter how many UVic kills.

Further, is UVic planning to kill deer, hawks, falcons, or other wildlife that find their way to the campus? Tell UVic that they need to respect animals, and live in harmony with them, not dominate and murder them because they’ve crossed some imaginary borderline.

Peaceful steps can be taken to prevent an overpopulation, including instituting a TNR (Trap, Neuther/Spay, Return) program, which thanks to volunteers from local veterinarians, would actually cost less than the thousands of dollars UVic would have to spend per rabbit killed.



WHERE TO SEND YOUR LETTERS

Individual

University of Victoria President Dave Turpin dturpin@uvic.ca
UVic Facilities Manager Tom Smith tomfmgt@uvic.ca

Group

dturpin@uvic.ca , tomfmgt@uvic.ca

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear President Turpin and Manager Smith,

I am shocked to learn of the planned, malicious killing of rabbits at the University of Victoria.  This type of blatant massacre is simply deplorable, and I am writing to demand that alternative, non-lethal forms of management be utilized instead.

Please allow me to elaborate.  Humans have adopted dangerous constructs of speciesism, the prejudicial regard of non-human species, to validate the brutality inflicted upon them. Using this manufactured status of superiority, humans have sanctioned the use of animals as commodities, regarding them only as products to benefit our goals and needs. We embrace inequity to justify our treatment of animals, yet euphemistic descriptions meant to facilitate morality cannot disguise the fundamentally unethical parameters with which we surround ourselves to distinguish our dominance. As dangerous as racism and sexism, speciesism further divides the chasm between species, which desensitizes us to cruelty and inevitably leads to human inequality and injustice.

This disregard of your most vulnerable group of beings is unacceptable, and until this is appropriately addressed including a mandatory ban of all proposals to kill the rabbits, I will not endorse University of Victoria.  Please act responsibly and with equity and choose to protect, rather than sanction harm to animals:  implement non-lethal methods to address any population concerns, and consider how this would also prove financially beneficial by using far less valuable resources.

For your information, please read The Vacuum Effect: Why Catch And Kill Doesn’t Work at http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=534

Thank you for your time; I look forward to a positive resolution.

NAME

The Vacuum Effect: Why Catch And Kill Doesn’t Work

• Animal Wrongs

• Compassion

• Cruelty-Free

college is a place to learn
Uvic is a place to stomach churn
what are you teaching
what message have you sent
that killing is acceptable
since rabbits and others
do not pay rent
that animals since they do not
matriculate
are worthless and their live do
not rate?
how cruel and stupid can this be
and you call yourself a
university?

Karen Lyons Kalmenson