By HOLLY MIYASAKI, News Staff Reporter, Apr 09 2006
This Easter an area animal shelter will have a special edition to their full house.
Critteraid, located in Summerland, received eight bunnies from Peru last week and they will be house guests for 45 days.
"I received an e-mail from a lady in Peru saying she and her husband were emigrating to Canada and really desperately wanted to bring their bunnies and the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) said they would have to put their bunnies into quarantine," said Critteraid president Deborah Silk. "If they couldn't find a facility, they couldn't bring their bunnies."
The couple, who moved to Canada for its higher standard of living, chose the Okanagan because of the climate. Currently, they are staying in a bed and breakfast in Peachland while looking for jobs in Kelowna.
The rabbits - Conejo (rabbit), Duqueza (duchess), Bebe (baby), Liebre (hare), Zorrillo (skunk), Toffa (toffee), Torito (little bull) and Vaca (cow) - made a long journey flying from Lima to Toronto to Vancouver to Kelowna before being picked up by Silk and driven to Critteraid.
Currently, they are separated, four to a cage, in a federally inspected room at a medium quarantine level. This means that only certain Critteraid volunteers can go into the room and tend to the rabbits. They can only receive minimal handling during their quarantine period.
[1]Critteraid, which is a sanctuary for cats and a variety of other animals, has quarantined animals for the government before, but Silk said she's never dealt with rabbits to this extent. On one of the first nights hosting her new guests, she said she heard a loud sound and couldn't locate it. Eventually, after hearing it a few times, she found it was one of the rabbits whacking its back leg against the floor of their cage - a sign of agitation.
Silk said she's also learning what makes a good rabbit meal during a transition stage.
The bunnies, used to their Peruvian food, have tried a variety of Silk's offerings including carrots, lettuce and cauliflower.
Despite needing to learn how to care for the rabbits, Silk said she's more than happy to do it for the new Canadians.
"They're a young couple and they really wanted the good life in Canada. They had to jump through a lot of hoops to get approval ... I don't know that they would have come (without their rabbits)," she said. "But this is exactly what we try to teach people about the commitment of having animals."
For more information about Critteraid visit their Web site: Critteraid.ca [2].