Bunnies could be bouncing off the list of allowed domestic animals because ... they are apparently breeding like rabbits in the wild!
Councillors claim pets have hopped to freedom from homes and are now so plentiful in the wild they are causing a danger to the nation’s infrastructure projects.
The Southern Municipal Council has unanimously approved a proposal by its chairman Abdulla Abdullatif to impose a ban on breeding and selling rabbits as pets.
Bahrain currently implements a pan-GCC law titled Humane Treatment of Animals but each member country has the right to introduce its own by-laws.
Rabbits are sold in Bahrain for around BD3 although novelty and rare breed show bunnies can fetch several hundred dinars.
“Rabbits are currently categorised as domestic like dogs, cats and turtles, which is wrong,” blasted Mr Abdullatif. “In my opinion it’s cruel to cage up rabbits in hutches and keeping them as pets inside homes, robbing them of their right to reproduce. But it’s also wrong to let them loose in the backyard, or allow them to set up a warren. The underground system of burrows can prove dangerous to homes and in the wild they are chewing their way through vital wiring.”
Pet rabbits may prove to be trendy TikTok video stars but out in the wild the breeding season begins in mid-February and can continue through to late summer. Famous for their reproductive abilities rabbits have a 30-day gestation period and can have several litters a year. Typically a female will have between four and eight babies.
Mr Abdullatif claimed several dead bunnies were recently found as contractors dug trenches for infrastructure projects in his municipality.
“It appears several chewed up an electricity cable and were electrocuted and others dug around the base on which roads were about to be built,” said Mr Abdullatif.
“Development work on several projects had to be delayed as workers chased the rabbits away from areas earmarked for government facilities.
“God knows what damage they may cause to the country’s infrastructure in the long-run. The extent of damage caused over the years is unknown and it’s not the rabbits’ fault but the people who brought them here as pets.”
In Bahrain there are very few wild animals, so the authorities take great care to preserve them. The desert hare, for example, is fast-moving and small in size, the colour of its head is sandy to escape from predatory desert dogs, so this type of rabbit prefers to appear at night and throughout the day it hides under the bushes. And, the Jerboa, a hopping desert rodent, can run more than 20 kilometres per hour.
An explosion in the population of escaped domestic bunnies could spoil the natural order, as well as well as put at risk the bourgeoning local farming sector, councillors fear.
The proposal will be now reviewed by Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Minister Wael Al Mubarak.
And, Capital Trustees Board chairman Saleh Tarradah believes a thorough formal study on the issue should take place before any wildlife and domestic animal rules were changed.
“The Works Ministry needs to give feedback on the damage caused by rabbits to infrastructure, the Oil and Environment Ministry has to present a study on the rabbit habitat and the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has to present opinion as to whether any ownership ban would breach international obligations,” he said.
“We are not against regulating the import, sale and breeding of rabbits – it is just that we need a clear mechanism.
“Maybe the draft Dangerous Animals Possession could see electronic chip barcodes introduced on all animals so that pet rabbits can be tagged and their whereabouts known.”
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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