South Wales rabbit population

[Sirblessed 2,511]

On 14/01/2021 at 15:15, Guss33 said:

Wait till all this COVID is over and come down to the land of Down under for a ferreting holiday stay with me for a weak and we can take a nice drive to Echuca and sirbles who I am sure would be more than happy to take us out for the day. I have never met the man bu he sounds Cruzzy. 

Welcome anytime mate

 

[Sirblessed 2,511]

On 15/01/2021 at 06:35, jok said:

Lovely to hear Sir Blessded on this topic. He and I go back a bit. Sounds like he orchestrated a movement of some sort, something like COVID, to transport all our rabbits to Aus, somewhat like China. Lol. Glad to hear you are well pal and doing the numbers. It’s fair to say I ain’t making many boxes at the moment. Stay good. Jok.

Will do mate the old Jok box is still doing its thing, I have had to repair the back panel with a few screws here and there but still going

[toolebox 1,384]

On 15/01/2021 at 10:58, Bobtheferret said:

RVHD2 has only really been around for 4-6 years depending on which part of the country your in but is now widespread and endemic to the uk rabbit population so you really need to give them time to recover. My positive outlook is from first the fact that mixi absolutely destroyed rabbits in this country and whilst some places have been hit hard it’s nothing like what mixi did, read up about the devastation it caused or ask some old boys a lot of people just gave up keeping ferrets altogether and the working breeds almost died out but rabbits recovered and relatively speaking pretty quickly really. Second is from reading about this strain in Australia and speaking to the odd fella down under its seems this strain didn’t do long term damage over there and within 10 ish years was having minimal impact on them having hit them fairly hard when the strain was first introduced. Thirdly rabbits are born reproducers and survivors and across the world have adapted to whatever challenges that have been thrown there way. To anyone that doubts the reproductive ability of the rabbit remember that Australia’s rabbit plague that compelled them the build a rabbit proof fence the entire length of Australia started with 24 rabbits in 1859 and by 1867 was considered completely out of control to the point laws were being passed in parliament. 11 years from 24 to a national problem! Only good old rattus Norvegicus can compete with the rabbit for fecundity and adaptability. 

While I cant speak about Aussie rabbits ,the recovery of rabbits  in NZ took all of  25 years till the pockets had grown to what now is a big problem .The % of non effected rabbits of RCH is now in the mid 90s and we once again try to battle the bunny ,who has moved alot closer to us ,seen living in small towns ,sections and gardens. God bless the humble bunny .

  

Edited January 20, 2021 by toolebox

[Bobtheferret 1,223]

11 hours ago, toolebox said:

While I cant speak about Aussie rabbits ,the recovery of rabbits  in NZ took all of  25 years till the pockets had grown to what now is a big problem .The % of non effected rabbits of RCH is now in the mid 90s and we once again try to battle the bunny ,who has moved alot closer to us ,seen living in small towns ,sections and gardens. God bless the humble bunny .

  

Interesting to hear that they are back in big problem numbers again, even if it’s a little longer than I would have hoped it does back up my point the rabbit is a born breeder and survivor! Long love the humble bunny!

[forest of dean redneck 11,183]

Used to be few pockets of them around Monmouth way but never at the back of where I lived which was shame as was lovely countryside .

[toolebox 1,384]

What also happened in NZ ,after it had killed up to 90% of the rabbits ,the lack of them changed some of  the habit of the dry hill country in Central Otago. Gone was the short dry grasses kept very short by the hordes of rabbits that lived there, replaced by thicker wet growth which doesn't  suit rabbits at all .Even though its taken 25 years or more for the rebuild of populations to get to a problem level there were plenty of rabbits to hunt if anyone choose to do so after about 10 years ,however given the number of hunters you have over there, the harvest of rabbits would need to be light at best to see them back as they once were . We can hammer them over here & back they come ,we have so many and lack of hunter interest that I cant see much changing for a number of years .The K5 release failed badly so now its excepted  that they are not effected by any the strains of this virus.

[Bobtheferret 1,223]

A very strong point about a light harvest as you put it, I couldn’t agree more. At this stage in the rabbits fight against the disease it’s imperative that the rabbits that are left aren’t wiped out. I now only ever take a small crop and do just enough to keep a permission so as to keep a healthy stock for the future. 

[gnipper 5,944]

1 hour ago, Bobtheferret said:

A very strong point about a light harvest as you put it, I couldn’t agree more. At this stage in the rabbits fight against the disease it’s imperative that the rabbits that are left aren’t wiped out. I now only ever take a small crop and do just enough to keep a permission so as to keep a healthy stock for the future. 

Unfortunately there are lads scraping about to catch/shoot the last couple on places.

[Aled 362]

Darren, the same here in West Wales mate. There used to be a load of ferreters here locally, now i only know 1 whose still hunting. Last summer i saw 3 rabbits in the same field near where i live, i thought "great we are with a chance of seeing them back", since then i've seen 1. 

Saw more rabbits around the sports fields, and indeed on a roundabout island when i lived in Cardiff than seeing any here, sadly. 

Cheers

Aled

[troyboy17 631]

No better in the midlands and what there is they are in the gardens around the Fort shopping centre