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18-04-2004, 04:58 AM

(Robert E A Harvey) wrote in message . com...
(Campbell Thompson) wrote in message . com...
Does anyone have any good advice for controlling the rabbit population
at the bottom of my garden?

I quite like wildlife in my garden, but neither deer nor rabbit visit
very often now - we have a dog, you see.

The only other effective method is a good fence, buried at least a
foot into the ground to limit tunnelling.

But isn't this just a perfect example of what a pig's ear we've made
of things? Rabbits aren't indigenous to these islands, having been
introduced by either the Romans or the Normans (sorry, I forget which)
as a highly valuable "crop" species; as such, they were managed as
carefully as any coppice (note the prevalence of various surnames such
as "Warner"= warrener, the man in charge of the rabbit-warrens).
Properly managed and harvested, they would provide low-cholesterol
protein and fur from grass too short even for sheep to crop, and
nobody in his right mind would have considered them a pest.

Even in my native Australia, the buns could have been turned to profit
instead of causing a total panic with all its attendant nasties such
as the deliberate introduction of myxomatosis.

Mike.