Rabbits Breed Like - Well Rabbits!

and they are getting to be a real problem in the UK, but pretty as the fluffy Easter Bunny might be, with long furry ears and twitching white bobtail, the truth about rabbits is that they wreak havoc, conservation group Natural England says that the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, has 'once again established itself as the major vertebrate pest of British agriculture' and estimates that rabbit vandalism costs us £100million every year, there is actually a legal responsibility to keep your land free of rabbits, the whole of England and Wales (save for the City of London, the Isles of Scilly and Skokholm Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire) was designated a Rabbit Clearance Area under the 1954 Pests Act, which effectively means that every landowner is responsible for killing or removing rabbits from his land, shooting is one method of control or there is ferretting, Steve Caple is a pest control officer, 'It's old traditional countryside way, it's been used for centuries and it's still the best,' he says, ferrets frighten the rabbits out of their holes, nets are placed over them, the ferret is released and hey presto out pops a rabbit in to the net! as an aside back in the UK I kept 5 ferrets as pets and great fun they were to, rabbit stew and dumplings anyone!