Feral European rabbits are becoming an issue in Nanaimo again, after a major rabbit-focused disease decimated their local population in 2018. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

roaming rabbits

Nanaimo seeking solutions to feral rabbit population explosion

Dec 18, 2025 | 12:56 PM

NANAIMO — The City is reaching out to local community groups to alleviate ever-expanding rabbit populations.

At the Monday, Dec. 15 council meeting, councillors heard a report on the City’s history with feral European rabbits, an invasive species which are devouring vegetation, digging holes in sports fields, and leaving piles of droppings in public spaces.

Deputy director of parks and natural areas Charlotte Davis said feral rabbits have taken over widespread public recreation areas, including but not limited to Beban Park, the Rotary Bowl, and Seruaxman Stadium, creating safety and operational issues.

“We’re having to divert labourers away from their duties maintaining turf fields and put them towards filling holes, and so that means that next year, we’ve got a larger challenge ahead of us because we haven’t had the same level of service on our fields, and therefore it is not sustainable to carry on in that way.”

Since May, around 40 hours a week has been dedicated by City staff to filling holes made for rabbit burrows on playing fields to avoid injury to field users.

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Besides filling holes, the City has tried a few different natural management techniques, including adding raptor poles to several areas in the community like Beban Park, to encourage more natural predators to hunt in the area.

Cougar and coyote urine have also been placed around infrastructure in attempts to deter rabbits.

Recently, two bike crashes at the Stevie Smith Bike Park were blamed on rabbits running on the track.

The European rabbit is not native to Vancouver Island and is considered an invasive species, with a single pair capable of producing around 180 others within 18 months, according to a City report. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

There are also concerns about recent reports of dead rabbits found in Cedar, with symptoms similar to rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), but it has not been confirmed.

No feral rabbits have been confirmed to have RHD in Nanaimo this year, but it is responsible for almost wiping out their entire population several years ago.

By 2017, the feral rabbit population had become so large, the City partnered with School District 68 (SD68) and Vancouver Island University (VIU) to address the issue.

A study was completed late in 2017 on the ‘Feral European Rabbit Management Program’, but an RHD outbreak in February is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 85 per cent of the feral population, with reports suggesting the current population is larger than pre-2018 numbers.

Davis said they’re going to reach out again to reform those partnerships, as well as some new ones within the community, to find solutions to the ongoing issue.

“It’s been a while since the group has met, and I think at this stage now, with the population as high as it is, with so much going on right now with the potential for the new new RHD outbreak, we should be meeting again with our new potential partners from the community and looking at all kinds of solutions.”

Coun. Ian Thorpe said he’s not too concerned with the rabbits until they start causing issues.

“We had this problem back in 2018, and everybody was wringing their hands about rabbits everywhere, and amazingly, nature found a way of balancing the scales, and the problem went away.”

For now, the City plans to continue monitoring the feral rabbit population for signs of RHD, while expanding their current natural deterrent and management practices to new locations.

City bylaws already ban the sale of rabbits, and they cannot be adopted out if they’re not spayed or neutered.

Rabbit owners who abandon their pets face a fine if caught, and it’s against local animal control bylaws to feed feral rabbits.

Provincial regulations under the Wildlife Act regarding feral rabbits were changed in 2022, no longer requiring a permit to traffic, possess or export European rabbits for the purpose of transporting them to rehab centres, homes, or to euthanize them.

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