Using night vision equipment and low-velocity ammo, SportingShooters Association of Australia members have been helping solve the rabbitproblem at Werribee Mansion in Victoria.
Parks Victoria invited the shooters to come to the propertyone night a week to control the rabbits that are ruining the mansion’s gardens.
According to reports in The Age, it’s part of a $100,000-a-yearcontract Parks Victoria has with the association to control pest animals in thestate’s parks and reserves.
Shooters use a golf buggy to patrol the mansion’s gardensand have in the past month taken 100 rabbits from the rose garden and otherpaddocks.
Werribee Park ranger, James Brincat, said that poison hadbeen unsuccessfully used as a method to controlling the problem that had seenplantings dug up, lawns ruined and heritage tree roots damaged.
“We’re never going to get rid of rabbits but at least we’llkeep them down,” he said.
Alongside the shooters are local ferreters who come in onseparate days to help ease the problem.
The co-operation of the SSAA and Parks Victoria isa prime example or effective state policy in controlling pest animals. Perhapsother states could look at this agreement and follow their lead.
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