Rabbits in the city

H Wally

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
193   0   0
So, here in my city there are a lot of rabbits. Multitudes in fact. I'm wondering what the laws are in regards to picking up a rabbit and say, eating it. I'm not suggesting using a firearm or running screaming with facepaint and a spear, just what's the line on walking up to a rabbit in a public area or on a large public/private property (think hospital or university lands). If this is illegal, I apologise, I'm asking because I don't know. I'm guessing that they possibly have diseases etc, I'm just mainly interested in what's the consensus on rabbits in the city.
 
Don't see that going well for you. You will probably be explaining yourself to some angry, hemp wearing, rabbit feeding, latte sipping, hybrid driving smelly hippie and his hairy legged GF with their video camera. You will be posted on www.saynotomeat.com or don'teatanythingwithaface.com and they will have a big protest. Probably a rainbow parade too. But I can't see it being against the law. If you can do it in the privacy of your own yard or whatever go for it....Don't let anyone see you even if it is legal....not worth the hassel.

I hear you can ward off hippies with soap. Like garlic to a vampire or kryptonite to superman. Wear a soap on a rope under your shirt.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I can understand the public thing. Am wondering about the legal side of things. I know there are yearly debates about culling them, and the bunny huggers always win, then magically all the bunnies disappear... More I figured it would be a nice way to enjoy some non processed meat and make myself busy while I can't escape the city.
 
Some municipalities dont' allow for it. However - if there is not a 'no hunting' restriction in your municipality then it should be fine. I was told for example that in richmond i could use a bow and do that as long as i had permission from the landowner (didnt' ask about public land). I was just going to use blunts and whack the little buggers.

And i assume you mean 'european cottontails' which have overrun most of the cities down this way :) They're a cat c animal - they're 'open season', no bag.

There is no restriction against it in the hunting regs. There is no requirement to use a gun or a bow in the hunting regs. So unless there's a LOCAL restriction (Don't know where you are exactly), there really shouldn't be a legal reason against it. You will have to have your hunting license of course.

Just be aware of this - if you use a method that is deemed to be cruel you could be in trouble. Someone catches you banging the crap out of one with a shovel, they might claim you're being 'unnecessarily cruel to animals', not just hunting. So... whatever you do - clean kills and keep it out of the sight of the average person.

As for the hippies.... do rabbits eat dope? If they do .. you're golden.
 
One of those live animal traps would probably be pretty discreet.

Yes - but you would require a trapping license in bc, as technically you're 'hunting'. Different if it's on your land. I know - rather different than manitoba.
 
Where I live they only have a no firearm discharge law. It only applies to guns. We actuall are allowed to get 6 deer tags because of the overpopulation for bow.

If you have a hunting license, season is opn, and bi-laws are not against it, go nuts.

In residential areas rabbits can be considered pests. And as such the Wildlife protection act gives you permission to get rid of them. Trapping/release is usually not a good idea because you have to release them within a KM of where they were caught. You can kill them yourself or hire an exterminator. There is nothing in the regs as to what you are to do with them after they are dead. I IMAGINE eating them would be OK
 
I was told for example that in richmond i could use a bow and do that as long as i had permission from the landowner (didnt' ask about public land). I was just going to use blunts and whack the little buggers.

You're going to want to check the local regs before you give that a whirl. I had the local police come to my workplace and have me paged so they could tell me not to shoot gophers with my compound bow in the North end of Saskatoon. Aparently, shooting a bow and golfing are high risk activities and can only be done in certain areas of the city (golf course). You cannot shoot a golf ball around in a park for example.
 
You're going to want to check the local regs before you give that a whirl. I had the local police come to my workplace and have me paged so they could tell me not to shoot gophers with my compound bow in the North end of Saskatoon. Aparently, shooting a bow and golfing are high risk activities and can only be done in certain areas of the city (golf course). You cannot shoot a golf ball around in a park for example.

Yeah - every city may be different and every province has different provincial regs. You have to check in your area, even if someone in the same province does it where they live.
 
$50 says your in victoria wally ;)
within the city limits them rabbits are considered by the city as tourist attractions in other words. unless your licenced pest control agent you gonna get in some hot water if someone sees you snatching them wabbits
 
Had a man in Calgary who was quite sick for some time, it was difficlut trying to track down the cause of his chronic headaches, nausea, other gastrointestinal symptoms....turns out he was eating the rabbits that run free in the city. Due to pesticides and fertilizers used by the city and private homeowners, the bunnies were quite toxic, and in turn ended up poisoning him. No BS. There are a ton of them running loose this year.
 
Had a man in Calgary who was quite sick for some time, it was difficlut trying to track down the cause of his chronic headaches, nausea, other gastrointestinal symptoms....turns out he was eating the rabbits that run free in the city. Due to pesticides and fertilizers used by the city and private homeowners, the bunnies were quite toxic, and in turn ended up poisoning him. No BS. There are a ton of them running loose this year.
Hmmmm, I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty sure the university doesn't use many pesticides or anything, as there are huge student groups that go after anywhere that does non organic anything in the city. On campus I don't think they would be too bad. The ones that are still alive at the hospital are probably toxic though, as they're the lone survivors of the "disappearance" that occured last year.


$50 says your in victoria wally ;)
within the city limits them rabbits are considered by the city as tourist attractions in other words. unless your licenced pest control agent you gonna get in some hot water if someone sees you snatching them wabbits
If I had taken that bet, I'd be $50 short. Yeah, they're everywhere, as you seem to know. Plus they're fat and lazy. A good combo for me;)

I remember a year or two ago there was a big stink over somebody killing a rabbit on the Uvic campus where rabbits get in the way of everything.
Yeah, students eat rabbits every year, it's just that they don't make a big show of it. It's when a naked student chases one with a board or several students brew up a rabbit stew and start handing it out that things go screwy. Personally, I find them nice, but there are simply too many of them. They're getting hit by cars all the time anyways. Funnily enough, if I had my bow (birch homemade flatbow) and cane arrows, I dress up in "medieval clothes" and shoot at profile targets with broadheads or fieldpoints all I wanted, but put a blunt head on there and drop a bunny? :runaway:
 
Last edited:
City rabbits feed on anything including garbage. You might open one up just to find a ####ty diaper in its stomach.

I wouldn't think of eating them other then in an extreme survival situation.
 
I've stumbled across a few (read many many many) wabbits, here in Richmond. Typically, they are chewing on veggies dropped on some street corner. You know the bacon eating rabbit from "Malcom in the middle"? well he has nothing on our local rabbits...
 
That's what I'm wondering. Legally I suspect they're pests. On the public side of things we then get into whether or not I'd come head to head with bunny huggers, but that's not something I'm worried about at hte moment.
 
Back
Top Bottom