timetowaste
Well-Known Member
The City of Helsinki has had enough of the capitalâs wild rabbits. The city now plans to cull the ever-expanding population of the animals, and has been granted an exceptional permit to hunt down the rabbits with small-bore rifles and lights.
Rabbits have previously been hunted in allotment gardens with bow and arrow, but now the ante has been upped.
The permit granted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is valid until the end of 2008.
The intention is to try to eradicate the rabbit nuisance caused to four allotment garden areas in Oulunkylä, Kumpula, Vallila, and Ruskeasuo, and in the cityâs own botanical gardens.
Shooting the rabbits will not be the only method of getting to grips with a population that has quite literally âbred like rabbitsâ and reached absurd proportions.
A three-year research project under the auspices of the Cityâs Public Works Department will examine more closely the scale of the population, living habits, and nesting areas, and will explore the best ways of reducing the numbers in future.
Traps and nets will also be employed, and rabbits will then be humanely put down after being anaesthetised using carbon dioxide.
During the next few months, city parks will test out a variety of repellent agents that will encourage the rabbits to go elsewhere for nourishment.
Over the winter of 2007, wild rabbits destroyed trees and saplings planted in the cityâs public areas to a value of more than EUR 100,000.
Helsinki's wild rabbits aredirect descendants of escaped or abandoned pet rabbits. They have begun to adapt to the Finnish climate, and whilst winter causes heavy attrition to the population, the animals' own prolific breeding programme makes sure the numbers bounce back up again as the spring gets going.
In addition to their obvious nuisance-value, the presence of the wild rabbits has been seen as one reason for the arrival of another phenomenon in the capital - the large eagle owls that regard them as a free meal.
The most famous of these is of course Bubi, the bird that interrupted a football international last June. He and others like him prey on rabbits in Central Park and elsewhere.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsinki+to+begin+culling+wild+rabbit+population/1135233669156
Rabbits have previously been hunted in allotment gardens with bow and arrow, but now the ante has been upped.
The permit granted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is valid until the end of 2008.
The intention is to try to eradicate the rabbit nuisance caused to four allotment garden areas in Oulunkylä, Kumpula, Vallila, and Ruskeasuo, and in the cityâs own botanical gardens.
Shooting the rabbits will not be the only method of getting to grips with a population that has quite literally âbred like rabbitsâ and reached absurd proportions.
A three-year research project under the auspices of the Cityâs Public Works Department will examine more closely the scale of the population, living habits, and nesting areas, and will explore the best ways of reducing the numbers in future.
Traps and nets will also be employed, and rabbits will then be humanely put down after being anaesthetised using carbon dioxide.
During the next few months, city parks will test out a variety of repellent agents that will encourage the rabbits to go elsewhere for nourishment.
Over the winter of 2007, wild rabbits destroyed trees and saplings planted in the cityâs public areas to a value of more than EUR 100,000.
Helsinki's wild rabbits aredirect descendants of escaped or abandoned pet rabbits. They have begun to adapt to the Finnish climate, and whilst winter causes heavy attrition to the population, the animals' own prolific breeding programme makes sure the numbers bounce back up again as the spring gets going.
In addition to their obvious nuisance-value, the presence of the wild rabbits has been seen as one reason for the arrival of another phenomenon in the capital - the large eagle owls that regard them as a free meal.
The most famous of these is of course Bubi, the bird that interrupted a football international last June. He and others like him prey on rabbits in Central Park and elsewhere.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsinki+to+begin+culling+wild+rabbit+population/1135233669156
