Hunting the bunnies

An overabundant rabbit population up in Orkney catches the attention of Barry Lilley, and he sets out with a keen group to thin the numbers

An article printed in a daily newspaper revealed the plight of the people on Rousay Island. They were overrun with rabbits, to the extent that they were unable to keep good grazing land for their stock of sheep and cattle. This interested a certain Alan Smith, to the point where he contacted the reporter of the story to find out some more information about how they had been allowed to freely breed to such a great number, and what methods were being used to clear them.

The reporter put him in touch with the council, who introduced Alan to a member of the Rousay Island Rabbit Clearance Society, Chris Soames.

Chris told him that the methods they were using at present were primarily gassing, and the farmers had used their guns at night with lamps in order to cut the numbers down. But these methods were not successful enough to make any great difference to their problem.

Alan offered his help, along with that of his companions, who spent most of their spare time helping to clear vermin from farms around the Surrey area. The offer of help was put to the society at the next meeting, and it sent back some information on what life is like on the island, the number of rabbits to be dealt with and how they had been affecting the islander way of life.

After discussing this information, we decided on what methods we would propose to use. Our group consisted of Alan and his brother Jim, John Cefal, Martin White, Duane Lockyer and myself.