Canmore’s feral rabbit problem started when pets were released in the 1980s. (CBC )
Canmore residents began writing on social media about a lack of rabbits, or even rabbit carcasses, on their normal neighbourhood walks in fall 2022. A carcass found in town was sent to the University of Calgary for testing and returned a positive result for RHD last December.
“There have been no new reports of RHD in feral rabbits in Alberta over the last year,” Jason Penner, the communications advisor at Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, wrote in an emailed statement. “RHD outbreaks spread fast and result in high mortality, but don’t persist over the long term.”
There have been cases of RHD infecting wild species in the U.S., so the province’s wildlife staff is closely watching wild hares, jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits in the vicinity of any outbreak of the virus in domestic rabbits.
Cute, but destructive
The rabbits were said to be descendents of pets released back in the 1980s. They aren’t native to Canmore and were causing trouble. Not just in gardens.
“Because the rabbits do burrow, they were actually compromising private and public infrastructure, so people’s homes, basements, municipal buildings,” Miller said.
“We were having to do some rabbit mitigation projects actually and spending quite a bit of money.”
There were also concerns bunnies would become a food source for wildlife like coyotes, and increase the risk of human and animal conflict as a result.
Canmore’s rabbit tale
Managing the rabbit problem was just talk when the town first surveyed residents in 2007. Officials decided something needed to be done about a bunny boom in 2011 — estimating the population had doubled from 1,000 to 2,000 feral rabbits.
The plan was to trap and euthanize the rabbits, a move that made international headlines and divided residents.
It caught the attention of the Humane Society of Canada and the matter even went to court when an Edmonton-based photographer applied for an injunction to stall plans and figure out alternatives.
Some called for a tourism boycott, and the RCMP was investigating email threats sent to the town office.
The rabbit round-up began in 2012. But bunny lives were spared at first when local veterinarians in Calgary donated time and supplies to neuter the bunnies before sending them to sanctuaries.
But euthanization began the same year, after those efforts stopped.