Veg patch and wild bunnies - not a good combination?

Rikki

Jue_xx wrote: »

...or let them watch the rabbits and educate them about where babies come from!!:D

You could invest in a pad, pens and water colour paints. The next Beatrice Potter in the making.

Davesnave

timmmers wrote: »

It's not the kids that I was being condescending to....but the people who seem to think that wildlife is expendable...yet no doubt crow about being green and eco friendly....


....A family of wild beasties living somewhere doing no harm in their natural habitat ...and due to some arrogant humans who are too lazy to protect a few cabbages they need to die ? I hope not.

I hope there is some room on planet earth for at least a few wild things to live unmolested.

t

I think this is not the natural habitat of the rabbit; it is someone's garden.
It is like my house not being the natural habitat of the mouse, though at this time of year, as days become colder, the mice may have other ideas!
Do I then say: 'Oh well, make yourselves at home guys,' because I have a mouse-proof fridge and lots of Tupperware?

There are many places in our country where animals live 'unmolested' for most of the time. Some of these are owned by charitable bodies like The National Trust, but very large tracts of relatively unproductive farmland, be it rough grazing, copses, boggy areas, or whatever, are owned by individuals or syndicates who maintain it in a semi-natural state for the purpose of hunting & shooting. It is all part of the rural economy.

By the look of it you do not like these activities. Personally, I wouldn't cross the road to shoot a pheasant, but without blood sports I'm certain there would be less wildlife-friendly countryside and more 'order' of the kind beloved by Mr Tesco and Mr Monsanto. Perhaps it is a stark choice, but faced with the economic realities, I feel more comfortable with hunting & shooting than with the bland and sterile alternative.

Lotus-eater

timmmers wrote: »

It's not the kids that I was being condescending to....but the people who seem to think that wildlife is expendable...yet no doubt crow about being green and eco friendly.

Some people will eat anything, just because they can...a bird..shoot it..a fox..hunt it with dogs (not for fun of course :rolleyes:)...you name it it's one day not going to exist in our countryside. In it's natural habitat. Only at Tesco in plastic bags.

What are you on about, you don't get any wildlife in plastic bags in Tescos. And if something is killed to eat, we don't hunt them to extinction nowadays.
You think you cant be green and eco friendly and kill wild rabbits to eat? That's the single most stupid thing I have heard today. I can't even begin to start with what's wrong with that.

timmmers wrote: »

I can see the family sitting down to eat the cast of Watership down far too easily.
I can't imagine anyone sitting down to east a Guinea pig though...they are cheap and tasty too..so why not? Could get the kids to breed 'em as a hobby and skin them for tea so they are aware of where food comes from?

We don't eat Guinea pigs for the same reason we don't eat dogs, because we have a soft spot for them.
I'm sure most people think the same about horses, yet I've eaten them and they are nice.
My kids have watched as I have killed and gutted chickens, have watched a deer being skinned and butchered, have seen a freshly killed rabbit, then watched it being made ready for tea. I don't get your point, they know where food comes from, seems more healthy than your way.
I don't see what's wrong with it, as you imply? Would you prefer them not to know where meat came from and us buy the horrible chickens that are mass produced for Mr Tescos?

Lotus-eater

Kay_Peel wrote: »

This was the subject of River Cottage on TV last night. Hugh Fearnley-What'shisname had a vegetable patch that was devastated by rabbits, despite the rabbit-proof fence. He called in some experts who went out at night with 2.2 rifles and lamps that made the bunnies freeze long enough for an accurate shot. The marksman then took a knife, gutted the rabbit, and flung it into the Landrover. Gulp!

The recipes were fantastic. The local W.I. made hats, mittens, an Ursula Andress bikini (!), rugs and toys from the pelts.

There were two bits of advice worth telling: (1) use a 2.2 rifle if you're going to eat the little beggars. (2) shoot them from mid-summer onwards, after they have raised their young.

It may seem over-the-top but, quite honestly, the damage that these cute little things did to his garden, after all his hard work, was just awful.

1, unless you have a FAC you ain't going to get a .22 rifle and if you want one to shoot in your garden, you ain't gonna get a FAC.

So (and I know that this won't apply to the OP, as I can't see her killing any bunnies) your best bet in your garden, is a half decent 22 air rifle with a scope. These aren't that cheap and it's better to deal with a few rabbits another way, unless you want to keep shooting them over a time, not just a one off

2, Always head shoot.

I caught a bit of the program as well, it will be on one of the catch up services on the web, I can't remember which channel it was on, but it won't be difficult to find out.
I said to the OH, maybe she could start making something out of the rabbit pelts as it seems a waste to throw them away, she replied in no uncertain terms, that she's not wearing a fur bikini.

Jue_xx

For the record, shooting them is not an option!

Lotus-eater

Buy some fencing then