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‘It’s ridiculous:’ Nanaimo woman fights bylaw restricting rabbits

Feb 8, 2018 | 3:56 PM

NANAIMO — A Nanaimo woman is challenging an obscure City bylaw banning rabbits from properties under an acre in size.

Liane Morrissette reached out to NanaimoNewsNOW after receiving a warning letter Jan. 30 from a City bylaw enforcement officer saying her six rabbits had to be removed. Failure to comply would lead to fines or the pets being impounded.

“I really don’t want to think about all of the little kids out there with pet bunny rabbits completely innocuously kept in their bedrooms and someone deciding that they have a grudge against that particular family and having that bunny rabbit taken away.”

Morrissette doesn’t know who complained, but said the immediate neighbours of her Railway Ave. property don’t have a problem with her rabbits. She said her domesticated rabbits are primarily out of public view in a backyard shed.

Morrissette emailed City Council about her situation and said she received responses from four councillors who support her position. She said the mayor and two councillors cited the need to do more research before offering an opinion, while two other members of Council have yet to respond.

Nanaimo’s move to ease restrictions on chickens and ducks several years ago was a reason Morrissette decided to leave apartment living in Vancouver behind in 2011.

“I thought that was great, that was something I really wanted to try, so I moved over here, bought my little property in Harewood and started up my chicken coop and rabbit keeping.”

Morrissette assumed there wasn’t a problem with pet rabbits in Nanaimo, pointing out rabbits are arguably the third most popular domestic pet in Canada. She investigated several Vancouver Island communities and found they all allow rabbits as pets.

Morrissette’s partner Mathew Dalton said rabbit manure proved to be a valuable chemical-free fertilizer in their yard, which helps grow food and kill many weeds.

“There’s a lot of local invasive plants like Himalayan blackberry, bind weed or scotch broom. Rabbits all enjoy eating clippings of those,” Dalton said.

Morrissette said many aspects of the City’s animal control bylaws were deemed unenforceable by a lawyer who reviewed them. She said an example of the “disjointed” bylaws is the section referenced in her warning letter.

“It has to do with allowing livestock, poultry or rabbits which stray or trespass in public areas or cemeteries, which we are not in contravention of at all.”

Morrissette is scheduled to address her concerns to Council as a delegation at a meeting later this month.

In a statement to NanaimoNewsNOW, the City noted the bylaw restricting rabbits in Nanaimo was put on place to deal with livestock on residential lots. The intent was to “limit or mitigate” the issue of once domesticated pet rabbits that get loose.

Another oddity of the City’s animal control regulations included the ability for a certified pigeon racing club member to have up to 50 racing pigeons.

 

ian@NanaimoNewsNOW.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

— Note to readers. This is a corrected story. Fixes spelling error in paragraph one and date the bylaw ticket was issued.