Bunny Mummies

Over reading break, one of the last things on my mind has been death. I have found it hard to come up with blog ideas while relaxing and reading? And I certainly hadn't managed to come up with anything interesting until this morning. During breakfast with friends and family, the UVic bunny issue came up. Even though we are all unsure as to what exactly happened to the majority of the rabbits, it's quite clear that most were sent to the big bunny farm in the sky.

In the case of UVic, the rabbits are a pest that are destroying the land and causing millions of dollars of damage every year. It is quite a dilema though, because as has been proven true, you can't get away with simply killing them off. And clearly, giving them away didn't work out so well for some of them either. This got me thinking...is there any way we could cull the UVic rabbits without upsetting the bunny activists? I did a bit of research and here's what I found.

Dr. Salima Ikram, of the American University in Cairo, has been researching Egyptian methods of animal mummification. The ancient Egyptians worshiped animals as incarnations of the gods, and therefore their mummification was very important and precise. I find this approach to animal death very interesting, and see some parallels today (for example, many people have their pets cremated and keep the ashes on their mantle. Some even use taxidermy to keep their pets "alive"). Although my reasons for suggesting bunny mummies at UVic are slightly different, I think it's an intriguing idea!



I imagine it is a rather expensive procedure, but it can't be too much more than the cost incurred by bunny damage every year. If we were to mummify the UVic rabbits, perhaps the bunny activists would see that the rabbits are being respected, but the problem would still be eliminated. I'm not too sure what to do with the rabbits after mummification though....it could get quite creepy.

I realize this is a somewhat morbid and cynical post, but I can assure you I am the absolute farthest thing from an animal-hater. In fact, I have spent several months doing volunteer work in animal conservation! But if there has to be death involved with the UVic bunny situation, morbid as it may be, I think bunny mummies might just satisfy everyone involved.