Rabbits an agricultural pest in Scotland?

[Lush]

It "looks" like they are everywhere in the UK. It might not be a farmers dream come true, but good thing for the bushcrafter that likes to have a go at snaring. I am definitely coming to get some . I will use almost everything of what I catch.

Everyone seems to agree on this matter, nice . I don't have to feel like being a nature-criminal that takes some of the last rabbits around.
thanks all!

 

[Rebel]

Hares are different to rabbits though.

Once upon a time rabbits were food for the wealthy. They were imported by rich landowners who built warrens for them and kept them enclosed. They were bred to be eaten.

As the rabbits adapted to the miserable British weather and conditions they started to escape and breed outside of the warrens. Rabbits also became so plentiful that they were no longer a novelty of the wealthy and became too common so they went out of fashion. As the interest in breeding them declined they also managed to escape into the countryside in large numbers.

To feed themselves they ate crops and soon became a pest as they breed rapidly and they have a huge appetite. Some bright spark in Australia thought that introducing the disease myxomatosis would be a good idea as the rabbit problem was out of control there. The disease apparently went to France illegally and soon spread across Europe and eventually arrived in the UK. Apparently it wiped out around 95% of the UK's rabbit population.

Although rabbit is quite tasty and it is similar to chicken there are health hazards associated with them. One is Tularemia or Rabbit Fever which can be passed to humans (it's not known to be a problem in the UK AFAIK). It is recommended to wear rubber gloves while skinning rabbits if you are in an area where this disease is known to be around. The meat should be cooked thoroughly.

Another problem is "rabbit starvation", which is only a problem if rabbit is all you have in your diet. It is caused because the meat is too lean, you will start to suffer and eventually if you don't get fats from other sources you will die.

Jews and Muslims consider rabbit meat to be unclean and won't eat it.

AFAIK eating a rabbit infected with myxomatosis isn't a problem for humans but it's not something that is desirable and I think this is one of the reasons rabbit meat remains unpopular; apart from the fact that we are a nation of animal lovers who think that bunnies are cute and adorable so we shouldn't eat them.

 

[woodstock]

I read somewhere that 4 rabbits can consume the same amount of grass as one sheep if there is any truth in that you can see why farmers hate them so much, I love the taste of rabbit, at the moment my favourite meat is squirrel

 

[slowworm]

Where are you from Sloworm we could come to some sort of 'arrangement' . I have sent frozen wild bunnies prepped and jointed through the post before

Surrey at the moment although hope to move soon. I've caught and prepped my own in the past and it shouldn't be too difficult to find somewhere locally if I had the time, thanks for the kind offer though.

One thing to add about there numbers, as I often look for signs of rabbits when house hunting sometimes areas seem strangely free from them so not all areas will have them, there seems to be patches all over the place that's free and other patches close by that's full of them.