Rob: Discussions at Banff council about pet rabbits and a potential banning of said floppy eared animals.

Tanya: The current animal bylaws for the Town of Banff limit the number of domestic rabbits per home to four. It’s suggested that the bylaws spell out that they’re not allowed, to avoid a situation like eventually in Canmore, after a whole brood of pet rabbits in the mid-eighties was, as the myth goes, let go one evening during some tomfoolery.

Rob: I get the concern at the Banff council table about a situation like that happening. However, right now they’re talking about an outright ban on pet rabbits to prevent something that hasn’t actually happened.

Tanya: Councilor Ted Christensen suggested that there should be an outright prohibition. The situation that Canmore eventually found itself in, what they have done is attract predators into the community. That’s what wildlife officials are concerned about. However, what the comparison lacks is the fact that that Town of Canmore exists outside of the National Park When it came to these domestic feral rabbits, Fish and Wildlife, the provincial department responsible for managing wildlife within the town borders, basically said “it’s not our problem, these are domesticated species.” So it was left to the municipality. A lot of debate and a lot of controversy, and we’re still paying for it. We’re still doing, since 2012, feral rabbit management in Canmore, and have spent close to half a million dollars on it.

Rob: And there are still rabbits pretty much everywhere in town. Not to the extent that there were before the trapping program, but we certainly have not dealt with the issue.

I get the concern, but I don’t think a blanket ban on pet rabbits, loved rabbits for a lot of people in the community, is really the best way to go here. I’m also thinking that somebody, if a ban were enacted, who was upset that they had to give up their beloved pets might just say, you know what, I’m going to make this a problem for you. You know what I mean?

Tanya: Rabbits have actually popped up in the Town of Banff and then, guess what? They’re dealt with by Parks Canada, which has a zero tolerance to letting these bunnies continue to exist on the landscape because of the potential problem they pose. So Banff doesn’t have a problem because it’s being managed by Parks Canada.

Rob: So why are we potentially enacting something to deal with a problem that doesn’t actually exist?

Filed under: Banff, Mountain Insider