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rabbits

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  • Bushman2Bushman2 Posts: 548

    i know what you mean welshonion. The letterbox trap is non lethal but you do still have the problem of what to do with them. i also pointed out that making local contacts is the best option.

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Fishy65 wrote (see)

    Get yourself a young Goshawk, train it to the fist image

    The worst thing they ever did was introduce myxomatosis, awful disease and a long lingering death...

    but it did thin them out a bit.

    can you lend me your hawk please or better still bring it yourself, with the family????

    i have got a cat but that doesn't deter them, 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Bushman2Bushman2 Posts: 548

    Lyn look up your phone directory/yellow pages and see if there are any falconry centres near you or any colleges running falconry courses. People who have hawks and falcons are always looking to hunt live prey. Remember to keep the cat in tho!! 

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    To be honest, and all joking aside, I don't think I could do that, I have always had rabbits as pets and the thought of killing them upsets me a bit.

    its pretty obvious that I will get all sorts of animals here, I live in the middle of nowhere,  nearest neighbour 1-5 miles away, near the edge of Dartmoor, I can't expect anything other than rabbits eating plants, foxes pooing all over the garden and rats in the compost heap!

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Bushman2Bushman2 Posts: 548

    Well Lyn thats my way of thinking as well. I don't kill anything nowadays i learn to live with it. i discourage foxes and rabbits from the garden but doesn't mean i don't enjoy seeing them.I've spent many enjoyable nights watching both fox cubs and young badgers.People ask for advice so i share what i know what they choose to do is up to them.

  • Bushman2Bushman2 Posts: 548

    Jo yes i've seen long netting done. Its hard work and you need to be very quiet!!

  • Bushman2Bushman2 Posts: 548

    Yes we were the same all the rabbits we got were sent for dog food. it was my job and i loved it, controlling the numbers of rabbits,foxes etc was just part of it. I remember sitting in a clearing in a wood on a sunny day having lunch when i had the feeling i was being watched. I turned round to see a dog fox watching me. I threw some ham out my sandwich he wolfed it over and wandered away. That's why i loved my job so much

  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276

    What a magical moment Bushman image It takes me back to my fishing days, sitting quietly so as not to spook the fish. You would see lots of wildlife, a water vole chewing vegetation not 3 feet from my boot, grass snakes swimming from bank to bank.

    Welshonion - make sure the goshawk was an ABCR bird (Aviary bred close rung). That way it hasn't been taken from the wild.

    Lyn - there was talk of peregrines being used to control your gulls image

  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114
    Sorry Fishy it wasn't a serious question. I spend time volunteering on an island where many of the top avian predators are naturally present.



    It saddens me to see any of them in captivity, whether captive-bred or rescued. I know it is irrational but there it is!



    So sorry, I'll pass on acquiring a bird of prey.



    Just in passing - peregrines prefer a tasty pigeon.
  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276

    No worries Welshonion, I wasn't entirely serious about employing a goshawk either. When I was 14, a neighbour who was friendly with my Mum 'acquired' a kestrel chick for me even though I didn't ask for it. He was a falconer and owned a buzzard.

    My Mum was very keen I made a go of falconry despite the hobby (no jokes) going against my love for birds but more specifically birds free to go where they pleased. I'm certain that Kestrel chick came from a nest even though I couldn't prove it. That is many years ago now and I've left falconry firmly in the past.

    And yes peregrines would find a herring gull a dangerous opponent, I think its probably more of a visual deterrent.

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