Here's why things are hopping in Calgary By Paula Arab, Calgary Herald August 12, 2010

Ehh, What's up doc? Wabbits, and lots of dem.

There might be a lack of tourists this summer, but there's no shortage of four-legged visitors. Nor was this bunny boom pulled out of any magician's hat.

"There are more and more wild rabbits in Calgary, that's for sure," confirms Patricia Cameron, the executive director of the Calgary Humane Society. "I've got tonnes of rabbits in my backyard."

"I have them on my street," adds Bill Bruce, director of animal and bylaw services for the City of Calgary. "I've always had one, forever. Now we have three or four."

Bruce says the type of bunnies Calgarians are seeing this year is the indigenous Alberta hare, as opposed to the domestics behind the bunny boom in 2008 and 2009. Back then, it was feral rabbits running around certain neighbourhoods and procreating like crazy -- pets that escaped or were let loose by irresponsible owners. That's a common cause for bunny proliferation in many places around North America and a problem that's almost entirely man-made.

This is different. The urbanization of white-tailed jackrabbits exemplifies the country coming to the city because of the city spreading to rural areas.

"We're taking over their territory," says Cameron. "As more pressure is on them, they'll move into people's backyards."

The lush summer weather has helped feed the frenzy, creating an abundance of nibblies such as grass and leaves. It's also partly due to the natural population cycle of jackrabbits, which always peaks ahead of a decline. Disease or another natural cause will eventually bring survival rates back down to more sustainable levels.

But mainly, Calgary's hopping with bunnies because of urban sprawl, which has led to an increase of city coyotes and mice as well.

"There's no doubt urban sprawl has an effect on wildlife," says Bruce. "Whenever we encroach ... we displace that wildlife."

Contrary to popular belief, Calgary's suburban development is no accident. The Neptis Foundation, a charitable group that funds and conducts non-partisan research on urban growth, says the reason the city has evolved as it has, is a "distinctive planning culture" and regional and municipal planning policies "directed toward the efficient production and servicing of low-cost housing on green-fields."

The foundation's Growing Cities report attempts to get beyond the stereotyped image of "unplanned, automobile-oriented, low-density sprawl" by exploring and comparing different approaches to regional planning. It offers a "rare apples-to-apples comparison" of Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver.

"Contrary to the common characterization of typical suburban development as 'unplanned,' the policy review shows that the urbanizing fringe of all three regions has long been regulated," says the report. "This study has found that different cities have taken distinctly different approaches to planning urban growth, and that these different approaches have shaped and channelled that growth in distinctive ways."

Urban sprawl is defined as occurring when the "rate of increase in urban land exceeds the rate of growth in population or housing."

The rate of that growth was greatest in Calgary. During the study period between 1991 and 2001, Calgary's land mass grew at nearly twice the rate of its population -- 43 per cent versus 24 per cent. Toronto showed a similar growth pattern (28 per cent versus 19 per cent) while Vancouver saw the opposite trend. Its urban area grew at a slower rate than the population -- 16 per cent versus 24 per cent.

According to the study, the key driver to land consumption is housing. Almost 75 per cent of residential construction during the study period was single-detached houses, compared with 50 per cent in Toronto, and just 16 per cent in Vancouver. Half of the construction in Vancouver was apartments, compared with just 12 per cent in Calgary.

It's only recently that policy-makers realized the high costs of growing out instead of up, and moved toward transit-oriented developments.

For most of the past 30 years, Neptis found Calgary's local and regional planning policies "have been more concerned with facilitating growth than with containing it ... While municipal and provincial plans call for the protection of natural features such as river valleys, there has been no move to protect rural land around the city either for its own sake, or as a means of urban containment."

No wonder we are overrun with rabbits. The good news is, compared with mice or coyotes, they are relatively harmless, carry no known diseases and don't attract large predators.

The bad news is not everyone thinks they're so cute. One rabbit was found hopping around with an arrow lodged in its body, one that failed to pierce any vital organs.

Even worse are people who think they can hunt rabbits down with shotguns. "Discharging a firearm in the city is a major offence," warns Bruce. "Anyone who tries to deal with them that way will soon have the SWAT team at their door."

The Yosemite Sams out there should just leave the bunnies alone. As Bugs Bunny would say: "You can't shoot a wabbit."

parab@theherald. theherald.canwest.com
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