IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
After an alarming slump over the past couple of years, the rabbits in my locality are making a very healthy comeback. I’m delighted to see them around again, but several landowners are less pleased because the burrowing animals are causing them serious problems – so serious, in fact, that I am now extending my pest control rounds into the night.
Following the decline in rabbit numbers resulting from viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD), there was little need to keep this agricultural pest in check because there weren’t enough to do any great harm.
It’s a very different story now though, as populations on some farms are now significantly larger than they were before VHD arrived on the scene. The influx of bunnies is causing damage on several fronts. On one estate they are nibbling young trees and munching through grass and vegetable crops, but it’s their burrowing that is causing most concern on the farm where I
