Nine thousand rabbits culled on tiny island

[Still Waters]

Nine thousand rabbits have been culled on a small Hebridean island, and sold to restaurants in France, in one of the biggest operations of its kind in the UK.

The large-scale cull was ordered on Canna, which is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, after a previous cull of rats allowed rabbit numbers to spiral out of control.

A team of six men spent a "manic" three months on the island killing the rabbits using methods including traps, dogs, ferrets, shotguns and rifles. The carcasses were then sold in France for £1 each.

http://www.telegraph...-to-France.html

[Guest Br Cornelius]

As a conservationist I have to say - Great a job well done.

Br Cornelius

[Taun]

That's the problem with rabbits... They breed like.. um... rabbits...

[Crabby Kitten]

This is what happens when you kill off the island's natural predator, the wild cat. Due to this great loss in cats, these rabbits have been overpopulating and destroying plants.

[Guest Br Cornelius]

This is what happens when you kill off the island's natural predator, the wild cat. Due to this great loss in cats, these rabbits have been overpopulating and destroying plants.

I don't think there was a wild cat population originally. the problem was the accidental introduction of rats and rabbits. The rats predated ground nesting birds and the rabbits competed for nesting burrows. These remote off shore islands are critically important breeding sites for rare seabirds for exactly the reason that they had no natural predators. This represents one of the major threats to all island habitats and often leads to the extinction of whole species.

Br Cornelius