Setting a rabbit free, liberating it, sending it to live in the wild or whatever else you want to call animal abandonment can now result in a $500 fine in Delta.

Wrapping up the year of the rabbit management program is an amendment to the animal-control bylaw that makes abandoning an animal of any kind a ticketable offense.

The aim of the new legislation is to avoid animal cruelty and aims to prevent situations like the proliferation of rabbits that plagued the civic precinct for several years.

Delta approved a plan earlier this year that saw the roundup, sterilization and relocation of the approximately 500 bunnies to Ladner Harbour Park.

Originally budgeted at $60,000, the program came in at less than $25,000.

Michelle Gamage,

Delta Optimist