Rabbits can be kept away humanely, gardeners advised

Gardeners can keep rabbits from destroying their plants and flowers without resorting to poison or traps, one expert has advised.

As with many other keen gardeners, one troubled enthusiast writing into the Telegraph revealed that she is keen to get rid of the pests, but would like to do so in as humane a way as possible.

In response, gardening expert Helen Yemm advised that gardeners should aim to take preventative measures rather than lay traps, with "long run fencing" both less trouble and more effective than spraying crops.

According to Ms Yimm, by burying chicken wire just a few inches under the ground on the edge of certain parts of the garden, she was stop the rabbits from getting in.

In addition, her '100 per cent success rate' in this task also entailed her working out which plants most attracted rabbits, with a series of trials showing that more mature, woody plants and shrubs were rarely targeted by the pests, while newly-planted, and therefore more vulnerable plants were a favourite with her unwanted visitors, meaning that these were given more protection, again in the shape of chicken wire.

Meanwhile, over in Australia, the country's agricultural minister Tony Bourke has revealed that rabbits cause AUS$620 million worth of damage to crops a year.

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Associated Topics

Wildlife