Have you used a Rodentator to control rabbits?

Rabbits
EDWARD COOK says:
I’ve always worked on the principle that if you haven’t got the fieldcraft to outwit a rabbit (or any pest species) then you deserve the problems it might cause.

I cover a vast acreage these days of around 40,000 acres and I use every form of control other than gassing or the use of a Rodentator.

I’ve mainly heard negative reports of these devices including instances of rabbits bolting which were alight, as well as several operators being hurt.

Although I kill rabbits every day of my life I hate cruelty and wouldn’t hesitate to inform the RSPCA of any illegal use of these devices.

In America you are permitted to blow up burrowing animals but in this country you’re only allowed to blow up empty burrows.

A friend who works on an estate told me that his boss sent their Rodenator back as ferreting was proving far more effective at keeping rabbits under control.

I’ve seen a few burrows where this device had been used but they still had rabbits present and the burrows were still very much intact – I even bolted two bunnies from one which had been very recently ‘Rodenated’.

I’ve been to farms where the burrows had been ripped to pieces with JCBs and within a year the rabbits were back again.

There’s simply no magic cure to a rabbit problem, especially a severe one.

The only way to keep on top of the little perishers is to use a combination of methods such as systematic ferreting, lamping, snaring, fencing and drop boxes, longnetting etc.

All these are effective to a point – but anyone who thinks they can rid farmland with one of these devices alone (legally or not) really wants their head testing.