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The Office of Public Works is planning a mass cull of rabbits at Derrynane National Park in County Kerry.
The Irish Independent has reported that the OPW is blaming "an explosion in the local population" of rabbits for "habitat and wildlife damage” at the 120 hectare national park which is on Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.
The Irish Independent report went on to reveal that "predator numbers have declined in the area and, as a direct result, rabbit numbers have soared."
The state body is poised to trap and kill the rabbits over the coming weeks and months.
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is calling on the OPW to halt the cull and instead investigate the cause of the local decline in natural predators, such as foxes, who play a natural role in controlling rabbit numbers. Is it due to mass persecution and killing of these predators?
If the OPW proceeds with rabbit control, it must adopt non-lethal methods and call in experts who can present alternatives to trapping and killing.
Note: The Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works is Patrick O’Donovan TD (Fine Gael, Limerick County). He shamefully supports hare coursing and greyhound racing. In 2013, he voted against amendments to the Animal Health and Welfare Bill which sought to secure a ban on some of Ireland’s worst acts of cruelty to animals – fox hunting, hare coursing, digging out, terrierwork, ferreting, badger culling, etc.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Join us in contacting the Office of Public Works.
Maurice Buckley
Chairman, OPW
Email: maurice.buckley@opw.ie; info@opw.ie
Tel: 046-942 2000
Twitter: https://twitter.com/opwireland
Facebook: https://facebook.com/opwireland/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opwireland/
Read the Irish Independent report
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/animal-rights-activists-hit-out-at-opw-plan-to-cull-rabbits-at-one-of-irelands-historic-sites/a1004471476.html