Abstract
THE economic loss to farmers and others through damage caused by rabbits reaches a large annual sum, and it has long been a grievance that much of the damage was done by rabbits bred on adjoining property, over which the sufferer had no control the “Prevention of Damage by Rabbits Act”, passed through Parliament in July, helps to right this state of affairs. It empowers county councils to serve a notice requiring an occupier of land either to destroy his rabbits or to fence them in, and the penalty for non-compliance with such a notice is £25 together with £5 per diem for a continuing offence. County councils are also empowered to provide men and equipment for assisting occupiers to keep down their rabbits, and cyanide fumigation and similar methods of rabbit-control are legalized. The Act also imposes a heavy penalty (£20 for a first offence) for using or permitting the use of spring traps for rabbits elsewhere than in rabbit holes, that is to say, “under the roof” of a rabbit hole. The Bill was promoted at the instigation of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, and the secretary of the Federation is prepared to send “Instructions for Dealing with Rabbits” to any person interested who may apply to him at Gordon House, 29 Gordon Square, London, W.C.1.
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Damage by Rabbits. Nature 144, 360 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144360a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144360a0