Welshpool set to gas rabbits

Welshpool is set to sentence hundreds of rabbits to death in a bid to end the havoc they have wreaked on the Maesydre playing fields.

Fed up councilors have consulted pest control specialists after trying “everything within their capabilities” to end the problems caused by a bunny boom on its leisure fields.

And the full council will decide on October 27 whether the Recreation and Leisure Committee’s proposal to use gas as a last resort should be implemented.

“We have tried everything we have within our capabilities,” said Town Clerk Robert Robinson. “We have had a rabbit catcher down there with ferrets and we managed to catch about 200 but they just seem to be breeding at a much faster rate. The recommendation to use humane gas as a way of eradicating them was discussed and the proposal will be put before the full council.”

The rabbits have been eating the grass down to the roots on the sports pitches, creating rivets and holes that have caused serious injuries to both football and rugby players.

The fumigation of burrow systems with either sodium cyanide or aluminium phosphide is the most effective method of control and the operation must be risk assessed according to the provisions of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Act (1992).

The council faces a race against time to put the operation into place as all gassing compounds are activated by moisture and should never be used in wet weather.