Biodiversity concerns prompt emergency plan
to use ferrets to round up the few rabbits left
Daniel
Boffey in
Brussels
Mon 16 Apr 2018 14.41 BSTFirst
published on Mon 16 Apr 2018 13.53 BST
It is not a pastime for which rabbits usually
require much encouragement. But a mystery depletion in numbers on the Dutch
island of Schiermonnikoog has led to an emergency effort to coax the local
population into breeding … well, like rabbits.
Ferrets are being deployed to chase the
reluctant remaining animals out of their warrens and into the hands of
conservationists, who are bringing them together, safe from the stress of
predators, in the hope that romance will blossom.
It is believed that the number of rabbits on
Schiermonnikoog, or Grey Monk island, has been declining for the last three
years, although conservationists are only working from the memory of the 947
people who live there.
The concern is that the unexplained decrease
could have a negative effect on the biodiversity of Schiermonnikoog, a
9.9-mile-long nature reserve off the northern coastline, which attracts 300,000
visitors a year.
The rabbits play a vital role in nibbling
away at the invasive American black cherry, a variety of the woody
plant Prunus serotina that gets in the way of other species. Birds on
the island are also known to use the rabbit warrens to lay eggs.
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