Beware: Bunnies (Afternoon Pick-Me-Up)

Note: This post is by Tim, the SIP Maven here at Junction Networks. It has nothing to do with small business or VoIP, but it gives you some insight into the life of a SIP Maven. So, we're posting it... Because Junction Networks believes in maintaining a work-life balance, because it's pretty funny, and because Tim's daughter is pretty darn cute.

----

Each day, when I take my children to primary school we play a game; Count the Bunnies. I don't live in the countryside but in Victoria, BC, and the rabbits we count, live (for the most part) on the University of Victoria campus. We're not talking about wild rabbits and hares. These are big, friendly, fluffy bunnies. And there are hundreds and hundreds of them taking over the UVIC campus.

This is a cautionary tale of what can happen when a few people decide that their Easter pet is too much work and decide to set the bunnies free into a not-so-wild university campus. What happened next is best summed up by Wallace in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit "Blimey Gromit they must be breeding like, well, rabbits."

Campus officials claim there are now 2,000 rabbits burrowing under the campus, potentially weakening foundations and wrecking sports fields. They have devoured most of the beautiful landscaping and plantings as they engage in a constant battle with the grounds staff over what remains. The University is in a no-win situation, bunnies have a huge PR advantage over bureaucrats. Plans to cull them using a Caddyshack inspired underground tunnel implosion were nixed after a public outcry. A $20,000 pilot scheme to capture, neuter and release the bunnies recently failed when a couple of dozen rabbit kittens were born in captivity. The University has bizarrely posted signs showing rabid raccoons and dogs hoping to imply that feeding a carrot to a bunny is likely to result in serious injury. Students and local children still feed them.

The sad thing is that most of the rabbits are actually malnourished and in poor health. There are very few natural predators on campus, just the occasional hawk and adventurous house-cat. What is really needed are foxes but they seem to be more interested in garbage cans and household waste. Local chefs would be an obvious outlet but few restaurants want the bad press that will come from putting UVIC bunny on the menu.

So what to do? Any suggestions? Please post them here!

***

'Adrian' offered this suggestion: