Helsinki takes up arms against rabbits

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The City of Helsinki is trying to eradicate the nuisance caused to the capital’s park areas by the ever-expanding population of wild rabbits.
      Since mid-September, a total of more than 120 urban rabbits have been shot in Helsinki’s garden areas, reports Mikko Yletyinen from the Public Works Department. Seven hunters from the local hunters’ association have been granted a permit to hunt down the rabbits with rifles and shotguns.
      The firearms can be heard in the allotment garden areas in Kumpula, Oulunkylä, and Vallila, as well as in the city’s own botanical gardens in the evenings and just before sunrise. Rabbits do not move in the daytime.
     
The eradication of wild rabbits takes place in autumn and winter, when there are no people in the allotment garden areas, which are surrounded with fences.
      The hunters will notify the police of the times and dates of their operation in order to avoid causing unnecessary alarm.
     
At present, there are at least 7,000 urban rabbits in the capital. Actually, the figure may well be a good deal higher, as the conditions last summer were favourable for the wild rabbits’ breeding, and we all know how good they are in that department.
      Next winter, the need for culling will depend on the weather conditions, in other words on whether or not there is enough food for the animals.
      However, it is likely that the population of urban rabbits will have to be culled until the distant future.
      ”While it is unlikely that the wild rabbits could be eradicated entirely, it would be enough if we could reduce the population to tolerable levels”, Yletyinen notes.
      ”The rabbits that have been shot so far will go to the Finnish Museum of Natural History for research purposes”, reports Yletyinen.
      ”Canine organisations have also been interested in the carcasses, which could be used for the training of dogs”, Yletyinen reports.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki´s urban rabbits have caused damage in excess of hundreds of thousands of euros (18.3.2008)
  Helsinki to begin culling wild rabbit population (30.1.2008)
  Run, rabbit, run (16.1.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat