Rabbit in the Gabriola woods
I’ve seen rabbits in the Horseshoe Road area, but not elsewhere on Gabriola – until today. This bunny was in the Kensington Lands this morning. How’d that happen? Has the rabbit population expanded quite a lot recently, or….?
Dog was disappointed that I wouldn’t let her catch the rabbit for lunch. I think this rabbit is destined to be dinner for Owl, though. Such a white bunny – so easy for Owl to see at night.
Or maybe the eagles will get there first. They were calling in the woods today, not far from where the rabbit was munching on grass.
Filed in Gabriola Island 10 Comments so far
10 Responses to “Rabbit in the Gabriola woods”
Sheila M on 07 Nov 2011 at 8:08 am #
Gabriola’s had bunny-booms all over. They were often seen on the road by Peacock’s farm, and used to be a major “user” of Descanso Bay park until the fabulous Jim & Deb took over… About 5 years ago the Tyee/Coho neighbourhood had a terrible infestation, losing gardens etc, until resourceful Gabriolans got out the Joy Of Cooking, taught each other how to skin a rabbit (really) and built community over bunny potlucks. I love this island….
Gabriolan on 08 Nov 2011 at 3:07 pm #
Sheila M – Ha! That’s a great story; thanks. Now I’ve got to go find my old copy of the Joy of Cooking, to see if includes rabbit recipes. (I suspect that those won’t be in the newest edition.)
Sheila M on 08 Nov 2011 at 11:47 pm #
You are right. Older versions also include instructions on how to skin a squirrel. Who knew? And how is this helpful for cooking dinner? :)
Gabriolan on 09 Nov 2011 at 2:28 pm #
Sheila M –
Well, if we ever get serious about eating from our local foodshed instead of buying meat from afar, squirrel might be on the menu, I suppose.
My dog would be very grateful if I’d skin a squirrel for her!
Meanwhile, the white bunny is still in the woods, in the very same place.
Tom C on 10 Nov 2011 at 12:00 am #
Sheila M. Thanks for the posting on bunnies. My favourite recipe is stifado, a Greek style rabbit stew. My childhood was on a small island in the Churchill River north of Flin Flon. Now for a serious question about venison. I think that the population of coastal back-tailed deer on Gabriola and the Islands Trust area is a significant environmental issue. My training is in plant ecology. In the interest of full disclosure, I am the Tom C. who is participating on the Maggie Mooney campaign team. For the most part, this post is coming from outside this role, but I probably wouldn’t be posting if I wasn’t in campaign mode. Sheila you are a respected and experience politician with the Islands Trust. As an environmentalist and community leader, do you think that deer are an issue that is bigger than trying to protect gardens and fruit trees? How can the Island Trust “preserve and protect” our native plant communities when the plants (trees, shrubs and herbs) that taste good and are within the reach of deer are being systematically impacted? Is this topic on the radar of the Islands Trust and if not why not? Tom C.
Sheila M on 10 Nov 2011 at 12:33 pm #
Right, back to work, and away from my bunny-musings. :)
I really agree this is a problem, Tom. We are less predator-friendly as the islands get increasingly settled, and deer populations are growing as a result, and doing damage.
Islands Trust controls zoning only. Can you think of a way to design land-use zones that restrict deer? Broom?… That would be brilliant. But really zoning is about what *uses* are allowed on what blocks of land (eg home businesses are allowed in Residential zones, gas stations are allowed in some Commercial zones…).
Every local government conference we go to, “urban wildlife” issues are top of mind for coastal municipalities. People feeding deer, Canada Geese who’ve become resident and are making soccer fields ‘slippery’… these are complex and costly issues. The province manages wildlife, the feds regulate hunting, and there’s a big pushback from urban local governments who feel senior governments have downloaded a big budget issue onto them.
Gabriola is in a better situation, because we still allow hunting. Mudge and DeCourcy are harder-hit by deer, but because of the intense settlement pattern on those islands, reintroducing hunting would be very tough. We’ve had great forums with GROWLS, RCMP, and the Gun Club on this issue, and there have been good outreach programs on deer, including reminding people that feeding wildlife exacerbates the problem (and is a provincial offence). Community outreach remains our most immediate tool.
The Islands Trust in-house land conservancy is controlling deer access on some of its nature reserves to protect ecology, and connecting islanders on places like DeCourcy with resources to help.
Island Trust Council, late in this term, was encouraged by islanders on Mayne to add the issue to its Strategic Plan (at the beginning of the term, Trust Council chose Strategic Plan topics that affect the entire federation: eg ferry fares, affordable housing, local food, and shipping safety advocacy to prevent oil spills http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/tc/pdf/tcstrategicagenda2008-2011.pdf ). Next term Council could choose deer browse problems as an advocacy topic, if it were a priority for who’s elected to Council (that’s the 26-member body of trustees from all 470 islands), but I think it would remain up to the province and federal government to implement a regulatory solution.
Wise islanders have suggested I don’t talk about turning the community hall salmon bbq into the venison bbq, not until I never want to run for public office again. :)
rick on 10 Nov 2011 at 5:15 pm #
The deer BBQ may not be the political land mine you think it is, Sheila!
specialk on 10 Nov 2011 at 8:16 pm #
I did not know that feeding the deer was a provincial offense. And haven’t seen that publicized.
While I agree it is sad for the deer that too many of them do get fed, and therefore survive, making the whole population more sickly – I am unsure as to how I feel about those people feeding them. Should they get fined? And what about those native plant species *I* was going to plant in order to help feed the deer their natural diet. Should I get fined for doing that?
One thing I am sure of is I don’t want hunting near my home – which currently happens. I can only hope that there are never any stray bullets. It just doesn’t seem right to mix homes with hunters. Perhaps 1000+ feet away, but not nearby. I wonder what the regulations are about hunting on Gabriola. Can anyone post a link or shed some light on this?
Anon E Mouse on 12 Nov 2011 at 2:06 pm #
Specialk, I looked online for that information without great success, so I hope that someone who hunts and is more familiar with the regulations will comment on this topic.
I did find this link, which outlines the regs for Vancouver Island http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife/hunting/regulations/1012/docs/region1.pdf
and then I found this info on a link about municipal discharge of weapons, re Fraser Valley hunting:(http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/lower-mainland/wildlife/recreation/municipal.htm)
“Provincial regulation prohibits hunting and discharge of firearms within 100 metres of a church, school building, schoolyard, playground, regional district park or dwelling house, farm or ranch building that is occupied by persons or domestic animals.
“In addition, all local governments prohibit the discharge of firearms “within 150 metres of any workshop place of business, public highway or the place where persons may be assembled or engaged in work of any kind”.
Does it seem bizarre to anyone else, that places of work and public highways have greater protection from stray shots than schoolyards and playgrounds?
Gabriolan on 12 Nov 2011 at 9:18 pm #
specialk –
On your way to the Village, I bet you pass at least one place where residents feed the deer every day. I don’t think the provincial regulations are of the least concern to these people. They know nobody’s going to enforce any laws in that area, so they can ignore that and do as they please. Heck, one of the places where deer are fed every single day is just across the street and down the block from the RCMP station. So the police must be aware of that, yes? You’d have to be blind to not notice. So I don’t think publicizing the law would make much difference. It’s not like there’s much enforcement to worry about.
I have mixed feelings about feeding deer, myself. On balance, I think it’s usually a bad idea. I have mixed feelings about enforcing the wildlife laws, too.
:-) Of course not. And anyway, those plants do much more for the local ecosystem than feed deer. For example, they feed local bugs, who have evolved to eat our local plants, not some imported things. And then birds eat the bugs, etc.
I don’t know all off the hunting regulations, but I did spend some time trying to summarize what I did find about them. See this blog post: Hunting on Gabriola – laws and regulations. Hope that helps a bit.