EastneyEnder wrote:

Sena wrote:
Ragwort... and no.

That's the one! I knew it, but the name just wouldn't come to me.

That'll be Cinnabar moth caterpillars... the moth itself is day-flying
and very pretty.... bright cerise and black.

They're gorgeous, aren't they. They don't seem to actually eat the
plant - or if they do they're not very thorough. My main concern is
that the (almost) feral rabbit will develop a taste for the stuff. I
assume that so far he hasn't, as he's still very much with us...

Ah... you might want to watch out for that. From what I know, it's a
cumulative poison stored in the liver, so even though your bunny is still
ok now, one day out of the blue he might not be

Here we go again. I have posted several times about this but it needs doing
again I see,

No actually it isn't s poison that is stored in the liver. The damage is
cumulative but the poison disappears. There is actually very very little
risk from ragwort at all. It can cause poisoning in very very rare cases
but that is usually caused by it being present in hay.

There are a whole series of thresholds before any damage is done at all so,
contrary to what you may have read, small doses have no effect at all.

I know that there is a lot of stuff around telling you that Ragwort is
dangerous but it all comes from a few dodgy sources who have been
publicising it for their own interests. It is almost a classic example of
how to deceive people with bad science. Since I got interested in this I
have spent a lot of time checking scientific papers to get at the truth.

Some of the bad science has even got repeated in government press releases!

For more details on the science see http://www.ragwortfacts.com/

There is little risk to animals like rabbits and Guinea pigs for unless it
is dried it tastes and smells so awful to them that they won't touch it.

In fact one of the signs that a place is being overgrazed, by rabbits or
anything else, is that ragwort its growing there in abundance.

The moth is gorgeous and the website debunks a myth about that too, but it
isn't the only thing that depends on this plant.


Neil Jones
http://www.butterflyguy,com/