NOT NOW PROTECTED

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 225, 19 June 1936, Page 10

NOT NOW PROTECTED

Rabbits’ Enemies Lose Useful Privilege

A certain useful privilege enjoyed by a small group of animals has been withdrawn by official decree. These animals —all, be it noted, of the more or less lean and hungry variety—are the cat, the stoat, the weasel, the mongoose and the ferret.

The cat and his colleagues have (or, rather, had) one thing in common. They hated rabbits. It now appears that for some unaccountable reason they have made friends with Brer Rabbit; either that or they have been found guilty of greater sins than a mere fondness for preying upon rabbits. Whatever their offence, the fact remains that it is no longer unlawful for man to prey upon them. The decision was revealed in last night’s Gazette, which revokes previous Orders-ln-Council declaring these animals to be natural enemies of the rabbit. Under the Rabbit Nuisance Act of 1928 the cat and his colleagues were enemies of the rabbit. Now they are not.

The point underlying the latest decision is that the provisions of the 1928 Act make it unlawful to kill a natural enemy of the rabbit. To do so makes one liable to a flue of from £5 to £4O.