Rabbits’ access to Langley Middle School’s athletic fields will continue on unhindered, at least for the foreseeable future.

At a school board workshop Wednesday, officials made clear they are leaning against installing a fence to thwart rabbits from digging holes in athletic fields and overpopulating the interior courtyard of the campus.

The fence was estimated to cost $60,000 and included 1,600 feet of perimeter fencing to barricade rabbits from the school athletic fields and the inner campus area. It would have contributed to the rabbit-proofing 1,500 feet of existing fencing. The new fence was first proposed on Aug. 26 at a school board meeting.

Following a community meeting held at the fairgrounds on Oct. 6, Superintendent Jo Moccia walked away with a firm feeling on the matter.

“Having been at the rabbit meeting, in my humble opinion, I don’t think things are going to move quickly enough at the city level for us to not have rabbits chewing holes in our field,” Moccia said at the board meeting. “I also don’t think it’s a reasonable expenditure to spend $60,000-$70,000 putting a fence around a football field when the fence will essentially not be effective as soon as somebody leaves a gate open.”

Board member Linda Racicot echoed her sentiments at the meeting.

“It feels silly to be spending that kind of money on rabbits,” Racicot said. “I can’t stop thinking about that. It’s ridiculous.”

Moccia recommended that the district continue addressing the holes as they are discovered and continue efforts to make the school’s environment less inviting for the rabbits.

“What we learned at the rabbit meeting is potentially the rabbit population can control itself,” Moccia said.

The decision to pursue fencing is ultimately up to the board, and directors are not recommending it, Moccia said in a later interview. It doesn’t mean the district won’t change in the future, however.

“We’ve got a bunch of holes on the field and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down,” she said.

The rabbits’ impact is still causing holes sporadically dug throughout the middle school athletic fields. However, they have been slowed on the interior of the campus, Maintenance Director Brian Miller said. District workers have scaled back the environment rabbits cling to, such as reducing bushes and spraying rabbit repellent.

“The mitigation we’ve been doing in the courtyard is effective — it’s worked,” Miller said. “I walked through there and I have not seen more than two rabbits, where I would normally see anywhere from seven to 15 in the courtyard.”

“I think on the inner campus, I think we can make some headway. In the fields, I think all bets are off,” he added.

Miller said he felt more confident about the fencing, but added that if they can’t manage the issue of gates in the fencing being left open, then it wasn’t worth doing.

Langley Mayor Fred McCarthy was initially surprised to hear that the district was possibly pulling out of installing the fence, but ultimately felt it was the right decision. He also said it wouldn’t curb any plans the city has in place to foil the rabbits’ impact.

“In fact, I think that is probably a good idea,” McCarthy said. “Because I think we’ve found out there’s some non-lethal ways to address the problem that wouldn’t be anywhere near that costly.”

McCarthy seemed most interested in utilizing muzzled ferrets to drive the rabbits from underneath the fairgrounds buildings, where they have taken up residency and have undermined the foundation of the buildings. The idea came from falconer Steve Layman, who presented his thoughts and potential solutions at the Oct. 6 meeting.

McCarthy said he also learned at the meeting that the rabbits are beginning to die off due to a lack of food with fall arriving.

Another community meeting to discuss the rabbit issue is scheduled for Oct. 27, which Moccia said the district will attend.