The bunny population on the UVic campus is hopping out of control, and the school is searching for a humane solution to the problem.

An unknown number of rabbits is chewing on the vegetation, burrowing into and leaving their pellets on the sports fields - causing a heath risk to sport players.

There are signs on and around the campus ask people not to feed, harass or abandon rabbits on campus -- it doesn't seem to be working.

"There was a report to me as recently as this week that rabbits continue to be abandoned on campus," Richard Piskor, UVic's director of occupational health, safety and environment said. "People who feed the rabbits cause the rabbits to reproduce at unsustainable levels."

School administrators think they have a solution to the problem and is asking for help to carry it out.

UVic is searching for a group to come forward that can spay and neuter 150 of the bunnies and then put them up for adoption.

"We wanted to take what we felt was a reasonable humane way and that's why we've gone to the extent that we have," Piskor said. "We recognize that there always will be rabbits here but we really do want to limit it to a sustainable population."

Piskor said he would only use lethal means to get rid of the bunnies if all reasonable humane solutions proved ineffective.

Kelowna's bunny tales

Controversy swirled around Kelowna last year when the city contracted a company to kill the rabbits. The company used air rifles in some cases, and trapped and euthanized them in other cases.

Ian Wilson, park services manager in Kelowna, said it was a hard decision to make but also added that you'd be hardpressed to find a rabbit hopping around these days.

Kelowna began using lethal means to reduce its bunny population last year. The project has now ended and the city is using a non-profit society called TRACS (The Responsible Animal Care Society) to capture the bunnies and keep them in pens that local residents have volunteered to have on their property.

"You know it certainly got rid of some bunnies, but the way it happened was simply unacceptable to us," TRACS' president Sinikka Crosland said.

When asked about the UVic adoption program Crosland suggested that the school seek out groups that could find landowners that could build pens to hold a large number of bunnies - a method that seems to be working in Kelowna.

"Adoptive homes are very difficult to find for quantities of rabbits," she said. "They need the adoptive homes ready and then trap the rabbits."