CANMORE – The government of Alberta has asked the Town of Canmore to undertake work to "rabbit-proof" some of its municipal infrastructure.
General manager of infrastructure Whitney Smithers informed council of the request during a January finance committee meeting. She said the municipality received a letter from the province requesting it take measures specifically at the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage and Elevation Place.
"These are likely the largest breeding grounds for rabbits on Town grounds and we have had a request from the province to do some rabbit-proofing there," Smithers said.
Specifically, she said the work would look at the skirting around the stage in Centennial Park and the landscaping at Elevation Place, both of which provide appealing places for local rabbits to den. The request led to $15,000 over three years in the operational budget to undertake the work, beginning with the stage in 2021.
General manager of municipal services Sally Caudill said when the Town implemented its feral rabbit management program several years ago, it did undertake work to modify infrastructure to deter the animals from finding space for dens.
"There was some effort by the Town of Canmore when we initially started the Town of Canmore's program to manage our own spaces," Caudill said, adding that included, for example, the boardwalk in Friendship Park. "Anything we do that makes municipal infrastructure harder for rabbits to den, helps with our other program."
Mayor John Borrowman called the request "weird," and suggested the province should look to its own properties in the community and do that work itself.
"I am just surprised the province is requesting that the Town do this when they could turn their attention to their own properties that are also rabbit denning areas that are well-known," Borrowman said. "Off the top of my head, I am thinking of the senior's lodge for example.
"There is lots of rabbit breeding there."
The Town of Canmore began its feral rabbit management program in 2012 by yearly hiring a contractor to trap and then gas them in a humane manner. The rabbits are then provided to a birds of prey institute in southern Alberta as a food source.
Borrowman has said in the past the municipality has resolved itself to continuing to manage the population of feral rabbits, as they are a food source for local predator species like coyotes and cougars. The rabbits also cause damage to public and private property and leave behind feces in local parks.
The Bow Valley's wildlife coexistence group, formed in 2017, also released a report recommending the removal of unnatural attractants from the community to manage human wildlife conflicts – including feral rabbits.
The feral rabbit problem in the community began in the 1980s when a dozen or more of the domesticated animals were released. They are not a native wildlife species.
For that reason, the provincial government, which holds the jurisdiction to manage wildlife in and outside the community, refused to manage the feral rabbit population in Canmore and it was left to the municipality to step up and create a management plan.
