Yahoo News Local council orders rabbits who eat graveside flowers be shot dead
A council has hired a professional contractor to shoot dead rabbits who have been eating flowers left at graves by mourners.
Allerdale council were forced to act after complaints that the rabbits had been ruining the floral tributes and causing safety concerns by digging up holes on the grounds at Cockermouth Cemetery in West Cumbria.
Some 30 bunnies have been killed so far this year, according to a council spokesman.
Len Davies, who is a borough and town councillor in Cockermouth’s All Saints’ ward, said the council had no choice but to act.
He told the News and Star: “I am an animal lover and it is a pity that a solution other than killing an animal cannot be found but I don’t know what alternative there can be.
“I was speaking to a chap who had put some flowers down and got back and all he found were the stalks.
“When I went round to see how big the problem was I saw there were quite a lot of flowers around.”
However, animal lovers have taken a dim view of the “cruel” cull.
Jaquie Stobbart, who lives in Cockermouth, said: “I do not agree with culling the rabbits. They don’t understand what they are eating, to kill them is just cruel.
“People can’t just decide to kill defenceless animals.”
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A spokesman said the cull was “not an unusual process”.
He added: “Strict safety procedures are put into place, with the work being carried out at times that members of the public are unlikely to be present.”
An RSCPA spokesman said: ”Any decision to carry out a cull must be taken on a case-by-case basis based on the specific issues which impact a specific area.”
