Wildies in the cold! (not my photos!)

Found these in the Mail today





The article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-dip-6C-overnight.html?ICO=most_read_module

Awww sooo cute!!! we have some near us and i absolutely love watching them - had to phone police on saturday tho i seen two men putting a ferret down a warren i cried all the way to brighton i feel sick still now

They are beautiful

Rupert & Tia said:

Awww sooo cute!!! we have some near us and i absolutely love watching them - had to phone police on saturday tho i seen two men putting a ferret down a warren i cried all the way to brighton i feel sick still now

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I don't think ferreting is illegal, providing it is done with the permission of the owner of the land.

nessar said:

I don't think ferreting is illegal, providing it is done with the permission of the owner of the land.

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Is it not? My nephew got prosecuted for doing it :? unless he didn't have permission

nessar said:

I don't think ferreting is illegal, providing it is done with the permission of the owner of the land.

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Aww adorable! I like how they're interested in the bird :lol:

nessar said:

I don't think ferreting is illegal, providing it is done with the permission of the owner of the land.

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Yeah, this is true. I know of loads of people in the UK on a falconry forum that do it. Once the rabbits are flushed the falcons get them. I'm vegetarian and i think it's very sad when any animal is killed but a person quickly killing them is probably the kindest death for them.

Better than the farmer or whatever poisoning them, or shooting and possibly hitting but not killing the rabbit (then The rabbit goes off and hides And eventually dies from the bullet) better than dying of myxi, or getting eaten by a fox or a wild bird of prey who don't kill them as quickly or painlessly as the falconer does. And they don't go to waste because they feed the falcon and the falconer and her/his family, who then do not need to buy mass produced meat that are raised cruelly. Sad as it is, wild rabbits are on the bottom of the food chain and will be killed at some point By something, usually before they're even 2 years old.

Awwww!

that's at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough isnt it! I go there a lot because it's only 20 minutes away from us and they have SO many wildies! They're actually quite brave ones as well, I've walked or biked right next to them and they just carry on nomming! the babies are always adorable as well

JemimaH said:

that's at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough isnt it! I go there a lot because it's only 20 minutes away from us and they have SO many wildies! They're actually quite brave ones as well, I've walked or biked right next to them and they just carry on nomming! the babies are always adorable as well

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Yeah I think it says Peterborough in the article

I love driving and seeing wildies. Off the A3 in Cobham, Surrey, there's a roundabout and loads live ON the roundabout! So cute

Rupert & Tia said:

Is it not? My nephew got prosecuted for doing it :? unless he didn't have permission

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William said:

Yeah, this is true. I know of loads of people in the UK on a falconry forum that do it. Once the rabbits are flushed the falcons get them. I'm vegetarian and i think it's very sad when any animal is killed but a person quickly killing them is probably the kindest death for them.

Better than the farmer or whatever poisoning them, or shooting and possibly hitting but not killing the rabbit (then The rabbit goes off and hides And eventually dies from the bullet) better than dying of myxi, or getting eaten by a fox or a wild bird of prey who don't kill them as quickly or painlessly as the falconer does. And they don't go to waste because they feed the falcon and the falconer and her/his family, who then do not need to buy mass produced meat that are raised cruelly. Sad as it is, wild rabbits are on the bottom of the food chain and will be killed at some point By something, usually before they're even 2 years old.

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There are ways you can do it illegally, like if you are cruel to the rabbits caught, or if you do it without proper permission. I think there are also rules on how you do it, treatment of the ferrets etc.

Sadly, as cute as they are, they are a pest - they destroy crops and injure animals that catch their legs in the holes. They don't have much in the way of natural predators anymore. Ferreting or using falcons, as William says, is probably one of the kinder ways of doing it when it is necessary. When I was little I had horses, and the field used to get overrun with rabbits (and their holes), so to stop the horses breaking their legs in the ever-increasing amount of holes, they hired a man with ferrets every year to cut down the population a bit. It was very sad, but I see why it has to be done.