Plea to ferret owners over Welshpool rabbit problem
Friday 19th November 2010, 8:12AM GMT.
Families with ferrets in Welshpool are being urged to ask the town council before using them to control rabbits at a problem playing field.
Welshpool Town Council said the idea of ferrets had been put forward as a possible solution to thousands of rabbits digging holes in the Maesydre playing fields in the town, putting football and rugby players at risk of injury.
Councillor Phil Pritchard had said it was a good idea to get families in the town to go down and help the effort.
But the town council has said that anybody wanting to go ferreting at the fields, should seek permisison from Robert Robinson, town clerk, first.
A spokeswoman said: “No one has the authority to go ferreting at Maesydre Recreation Ground or on any council land without the written consent from the town clerk.”
Most Commented
- Shropshire Council will face £8m redundancy bill
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
First the council makes a big song and dance about the problem which will shut down the field for public use and how much it will cost to get rid of the rabbits.
Then, public-spirited “big society” citizens get together to do what the council couldn’t or wouldn’t. And do it for free!
Council reaction: red tape and bureaucracy.
Written permission?
Does this council have so much money that it can afford to write a letter every time somebody wants to stick a ferret down a hole?
Stop creating jobs for the boys. Let the public get on with it. It will be done so much more quickly and efficiently.
And you can be sure that there’ll be no need for risk assessments, fluorescent jackets and union rates of pay demanded to get the job done.
Simple.
And free.
Report abuse
Their dark cold eyes reflect our inability to defeat them.
And I, for one, welcome our new leporidae overlords.
Hippitus Hoppitus Dues Domine.
Report abuse
Oh dear, I can see trouble ahead. Many times man has attempted so-called biological control of pests by introducing alien species, which have then become more of a problem themselves – cane toads in Australia are a classic example.
Given the choice would you rather sprain your ankle in a rabbit hole or have a half-starved ferret hurtling up the leg of your football or rugby shorts?
By this time next year I predict that the Town Council will be considering reintroducing wolves to Welshpool to control the burgeoning ferret population…
Report abuse
Half-starved ferret hurtling up the leg of your football or rugby shorts??? Burgeoning ferret population???
Ferrets are descendents of the wild polecat and have been domesticated for thousands of years, so much so that they are practically incapable of surviving without the help of a human. Ferrets were introduced to Australia but all died after a matter of months for the inability to survive and breed without human help. The days of starving your ferrets before a flush are long gone, and these days ferrets are collared with locators so easily detected if lost down a warren.
Report abuse
Ferrets? Can’t we use our dogs?
Report abuse
I think the last government managed to pass a law restricting that a few years ago.
Slipped under the radar somewhat.
If you were talking of 1 dog I think you’d be OK, but 2 – oh no!
Report abuse
Is so little happening in our country that the Shropshire (key word, Shropshire) Star needs to keep recycling non-news from over the border?
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2010/11/16/pet-ferrets-being-used-to-solve-welshpool-rabbit-problem/
Report abuse
Hear Hear!
Report abuse
Have the Star got nothing better to write about than the rabbit problem? Do you not know there’s a Royal wedding in the offing?
And, despite the misty weather I’m sure there are still plenty of UFO sightings to report, what with Shropshire being such a hotspot for them!
Report abuse
Yes, I know how much you like reading the UFO stories.
Report abuse
“Have the Star got nothing better to write about than the rabbit problem? Do you not know there’s a Royal wedding in the offing?”
Give it time – in a few months our Shirl will be telling us how radiant the bride looked in her rabbit skin dress, a wedding gift from her loyal subjects in Welshpool. Not too sure about the matching slippers with the heads left on though….
Report abuse
Have you considered taking that idea to Dragons’ Den? I think it could be a winner.
Report abuse
I’m not talking to that lot, not since they mocked my idea for a solar powered miner’s lamp….
Report abuse
I’d heard the aliens had pinched the bulb from the top of the Wrekin transmitter
Report abuse
I notice the pro fox hunting set have kept very quiet about this. Surely there is some role for them in this matter. We do, after all, live in the post New Labour world now.
Report abuse
Well done for invoking the vulpine form of Godwin’s Law.
Presumably if the fox had flourished under “The Ban” then the rabbit population would have been controlled naturally?
Report abuse
The major part of a foxes diet is worms and rabbits (possibly being strict catholics?) reproduce way too prolifically for poor Mr fox to keep up.
BTW I can’t help thinking of that saying ‘the worm that turned’ and proffering it as possibly a new idiom for the Liberal Democrats?
Report abuse
Get some of the lads from hunterworld.co.uk to sort it out for you, you wont be dissapointed
Report abuse
Some of you people on here havn’t got a clue about the way the countryside works obviously. Ferrets can survive wild i have seen many during my times ferreting in the dales (i saw 3 yesterday, i alsways try to catch them but they are always too quick to find a warren or a wall to disappear into, it keeps me fit trying tho!!) and know a gameskeeper who accidently traps them in stoat traps on a regular basis. As someone has rightly said rabbits are proliffic beeders as they breed all your round now, i was ferreting in the dales yesterday and caught 2 rabbits full of young so no matter how bad the fox situation gets they would never be able to keep the numbers down.AND i have also never seen a fox in the dales but there are loads of them round where i live in the city.
So, ladies and gentlemen get your ferrets and dogs and get out there before someone gets a serious injury. hunt within the law and they cant touch you. Hunt out of the law and they will still struggle to prosecute you!!
repeal the ban!!
Report abuse
I think the word “bumpkin” springs to mind.
Report abuse
I think that the council have already been and done their gassing around here as suddenly there are not many buns and a recent hole in the field nearby has been filled in.
I like rabbits as a food and as a pet. We had as a pet for over ten years and they are fascinating creatures, more related to goats than rodents. I truly think that gassing is quicker and less traumatic than ferrets as a control mechanism.
Report abuse