Rabbit cull back on in Kelowna

The rabbit cull in Kelowna, B.C., will resume, but the animals will no longer be shot with air rifles, a city official said Wednesday.

Kelowna city council suspended the use of air rifles to kill the feral rabbits earlier this month following a media report that workers carried out their jobs inhumanely.

EBB Environmental Consulting Inc., the contractor for the cull, will now ask its workers to lay traps to catch the animals alive and give them to rescue groups for adoption, city forester Ian Wilson said.

The rabbits will be euthanized only when homes cannot be found, Wilson said.

"[The first method is] lethal injection," Wilson said. "The other one is a penetrating captive bolt; it's essentially like a projectile or what's used in the cattle industry."

EBB was given a one-year contract in May to eliminate about 2,000 rabbits after local residents complained that the animals had swarmed the city's lawns and parks in recent years.

CBC News reported last month that workers were seen repeatedly stomping on a rabbit's head, apparently because it was still alive after being shot by an air rifle. A worker then broke its neck to finish the job.

Kelowna city council is spending $54,000 on the contract to get rid of the animals.