Rabbits

Summary

The recently held 'Great Easter Bunny hunt' has bought this issue to the fore yet again. Not only do we object morally on the killing of 23,000 rabbits, but we also believe it is a pointless and ineffective method of control for rabbits in this environment.

This article from 'Stuff NZ' outlines the activities of the day. We are much heartened to see that the Director of SAFE has commented negatively against the cull as well.

This video shows the 'body count' at the end of the day, footage from TVNZ.

The issues that we see particularly with this event are as follows:

The involvement of children in an event that surely does not belong in a civilised society.
The mixed message sent to children, watching the bodies of rabbits pile up as they eat their easter eggs.
The amatuer nature of the shooters with no guarantee that the rabbits are killed instantly.
The lack of involvement of any animal welfare organisations.
The lack of follow up to ensure any suffering animals are put from their misery.

The issues that we see with shooting rabbits at all:

Its a big waste of time, New Zealanders and the government have been killing rabbits in their thousands for years and years. But still there are hundreds of thousands running around the entire country and particularly in central Otago. What difference has it all made?
None, because these kind of species, Rabbits and pigeons and possums, are highly adaptable with high reproduction rates. They can only be controlled by reducing access to food and burrowing resources. We believe that this particular culling event is cruel, and that hunting with bullets or disease is a waste of time and money.

Our letter to the Otago district council members.