You may have heard the old joke about an international conference on elephants, where the Canadian presentation is titled “The elephant: a federal or provincial responsibility?” Smaller animals, it seems, have been delegated to smaller jurisdictional battles.
Canmore, Alberta is dealing with the fallout from some well-meaning soul who released a dozen or so domestic animals in the area a generation ago. Viz, the town is now hopping with rabbits, and the local gardeners are unamused. From the CBC.ca story Bunny glut poses puzzle in Alberta town:
“Our mandate is to deal with wildlife and these are not considered wildlife,” said Jon Jorgenson of Alberta Fish and Wildlife.
“They are domestic animals that have gone wild in the town here and my understating is that domestic animals are [under] the jurisdiction of the Town of Canmore.
The town does not agree with that assessment, however.
Its position is that since the rabbits have been in the wild for two decades, the province should have to deal with them.
Two comments:
- Would it have killed the reporter to find a farmer named McGregor to comment?
- Someone must have really enjoyed coming up with the phrase “bunny glut”.
