Rabbit plague in Madrid: Now only ferrets help

Spain
Rabbits plague district in Madrid – ferrets are said to provide relief

Rabbits are the epitome of uncontrolled reproduction. This is not only shown by historical examples such as Australia and New Zealand. There the long-ears were imported by settlers over 100 years ago and turned fertile land into barren steppes. In Germany, too, the hoppers were at times a nuisance, most recently last spring in Ingolstadt. There, around 1000 rabbits from the Klenzerpark had spread out in allotment gardens. Parcel owners reported destroyed plants and carcasses of dead animals in their allotment gardens. The announcement to hunt the animals was withdrawn after an outcry from animal rights activists. Instead, the city decided to capture the animals and release them abroad in designated game parks.

Would that be an option for Madrid too? The Carabanchel Alto district in the southwest of the Spanish capital can hardly save itself from rabbits at the moment. The animals have been on the advance there for several years. The initial fascination quickly turned into frustration and anger. In the meantime, the long-eared people have conquered front gardens, parks and children’s playgrounds. The Spanish broadcaster reports that the number of rabbits is higher than ever before Telemadrid. In a damp spring, the population could even triple, he quotes “Guardian” a spokesman for the neighborhood association Carabanchel Alto. During the pandemic, the situation got even worse because no one could do anything about the pests because of the curfews.

Rabbits don’t just harm public facilities

At the end of October, the association and three local parents’ associations finally turned to the district and city administration. They accuse the authorities of having watched the rabbits proliferate for too long. “The rabbits invade the children’s leisure areas and leave their droppings everywhere. In our garden they eat our plants and fruits and cause damage injure themselves ”, said Maria Secos Morales, chairwoman of a parents’ association, the broadcaster Telemadrid.

More than 200 school and kindergarten children have not been able to play on the playgrounds for a year. Kindergartens had to close temporarily because the rabbits’ excrement posed a health risk. In principle, he has nothing against the animals, but “if the problem turns into a health problem, I don’t find that funny – especially when we have just gone through a terrible pandemic in which diseases spread from animals to people,” said the spokesman of the neighborhood association.

However, wild rabbits are known as hosts of the microorganisms leishmaniasis. The infectious disease is usually transmitted to humans via the sand fly. Twelve years ago the Spanish city of Fuenlabrada, a few kilometers from Carabanchel Altro, reported the largest outbreak of leishmaniasis in humans in Europe. The cause was the rabbits in the area, tens of thousands were culled as a protective measure.

Ferrets are supposed to fight the plague

Representatives of the neighborhood association in Madrid want to approach the problem differently. “We can not drive all rabbits out of the area. But we could build real, rabbit-proof fences and schools and apartments,” said their spokesman. Because the district administration made no effort to solve the problem for a long time, the residents tried it in the summer They hired a man to hunt the rabbits with ferrets. As the Guardian reports, the district administration is currently planning a similar approach. The ferrets are to be used to drive away the rabbits or at least reduce their numbers, and to put up fences affected facilities such as schools and kindergartens are strengthened.

cl / tkr