RABBITS AND TRAPS—SOME EXPERIENCES [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin, -Five years ago we built a small house in the West of England, and planned the usual garden and orchard. The land was bounded on two sides by old hedges honeycombed with rabbit burrows ; being reluctant to use traps, we had the whole of our property fenced with rabbit wire 2i ft. high.
One morning, in a was made rose bed beneath my bed- room window, there was an unmistakable burrow, which con-
tained rabbit fur, and was obviously intended for a nursery. The next morning it had been deepened, and contained five newly born rabbits. I never discovered how their mother obtained access to our land, for the wire had been sunk well into the ground, and it seemed unlikely that she could have climbed over it. However, after this I raised it another 2 ft.
Still the rabbits got in : they gnawed my young fruit trees, and ate my cabbages. I had the hedge ferretted, and though this reduced, it did not exterminate them. Local opinion advised steel traps as the most reliable method, and, with misgivings, I purchased some. I set them only at night and visited them at intervals more frequent than those prescribed by law. They were certainly effective, but the method was too -barbarous. So I tried a humane snare. I am aware that some trappers are stated to use this with success, but I can only say that I found it a complete failure. It was too. humane ; the rabbits got in—and out. I may be told that I did not set the snare properly. But, when I found the humane mare ineffectual I- turned, again with reluctance, to the ordinary wire nooses, and though these were set in exactly the same way as the other snare, I at once caught rabbits.
I must say that in my experience the ordinary wire snare is not so painful as it is represented : most usually it catches the rabbit- round the neck, and in that case death is often speedy and even instantaneous. If the noose fasten round
the body it holds him,- but rarely, so far as I have noticed, causes injury..
Subsequently we bought a strip of field on the far side of and adjoining one of the old hedge banks. As the -rabbits were again at my fruit trees I determined to get them out of the bank, but my experience was the same as before. The hedge was ferretted and netted nearly a dozen times,- but still my cabbages were eaten. Only the ordinary wire snares were effective. Some months ago I caught by this means what 1 hope is my last rabbit, but I doubt it.
I hope this frank account of my experiences may explain some of a countryman's difficulties in regard to this question. of rabbits and traps. Extreme humanitarians will probably call me brutal for having used steel traps at all. The destruc- tion of my orchard and garden produce would not have ruined me, but one can hardly expect a farmer, with a wife and hungry family, to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards rabbits. Townsfolk do not realize what a real pest the rabbit is, nor how difficult it is to keep him under control. Ferretting is, no doubt, the most humane way, but alone it is not sufficient ; you must trap as well, and do it constantly.
I do not defend the wholesale use of the steep trap by pro. fessional trappers. Such methods are sometimes barbarous and unnecessary suffering is caused when traps are not visited regularly and at frequent intervals. But I believe that the suppression of the steel trap by law will be a difficult matter, because it is the most speedy and certain ,method so far devised of capturing the rabbit ; and therefore those who desire its total abolition will not always find public opinion in the country on their side.
Prizes have been offered, I believe on more than one occasion. for humane rabbit traps. The object is to hit upon some instrument which will hold the captured animal without injuring it. I doubt if-this difficulty will ever be- solved any animal, deprived arbitrarily of the power of movement, struggles, and the result is inevitably pain in greater or less degree. Anyone who imagines that a rabbit caught even in a humane snare will sit there quietly till it is taken out is suffering from a pathetic delusion. You cannot have traps without P.S.—Since I wrote the above I see that a correspondent in the Spectator of January 12th drew attention to a new painless rabbit trap. I have not yet had an opportunity of testing this trap, but intend to do so.
Previous page
