Coquitlam is hopping on the animal group bandwagon to promote the message that rabbit adoption is for the pet's lifetime - not just for Easter.
Mayor Richard Stewart made the comment at Monday's city council meeting, noting his daughter had recently adopted a rabbit from the city shelter.
This week, the BC SPCA and Small Animal Rescue Society of BC issued their annual messages to urge the public not to treat bunnies, chicks or ducks as gifts.
Rabbits can live up to 12 years and cost around $4,000 for food, equipment and veterinary care over that time.
"If you don't think through the purchase of an Easter rabbit, you may regret your decision," Craig Naherniak, the SPCA's general manager of humane education, said in a press release.
Many unwanted rabbits are abandoned to the wild and can fall prey to predators such as coyotes or end up starving.
Later this month, Coquitlam council is expected to give final reading to a bylaw that would prohibit the sale of unsterilized rabbits.
The draft policy - which recently received approval from B.C. government as wildlife prohibitions fall under provincial jurisdiction - is designed to control the overpopulation of bunnies, especially in Mundy Park where, Coun. Mae Reid said, such pets are sometimes abandoned to fend for themselves.
Reid doesn't believe the city policy goes far enough, however, and plans to vote against it, calling instead for a total ban on rabbit sales in the community.
"It's our responsibility as human beings to use some common sense," she said on Wednesday. "It's a bylaw that's unenforceable and won't work."
In other Coquitlam council news, city staff this week released a year-end report on animal services, showing the Mariner Way shelter took in 609 stray animals last year, including 305 dogs, 267 cats and 10 rabbits.
Eighty-four per cent of the dogs were reclaimed but only 18% of cats were picked up. As a result, the city this year will continue with its free cat identification registration program for Coquitlam and Port Moody cat owners. Felines with a microchip or tattoo can be signed up at the shelter, thereby speeding up reunions.
Registration forms can be completed in person or online at www.coquitlam.ca.
