Baiting Maude’s rascally rabbits

A TRADITION for decades, the Maude rabbit-baiting campaign is back again this summer, coordinated by the local Landcare group.

Volunteers are currently inviting landowners with a rabbit problem on their property to pre-order bags of carrots spiked with the anticoagulant Pindone.

Secretary Laura Hollingsworth said participants are asked to spread the carrots in a trail over three dates; Friday, 11, Monday, 14^, and Thursday, 17 February.

Rabbits can damage and foul farmers’ pastures, causing loss of plants and land erosion, and the Landcare Group aims to lessen this impact on the Shire.

Volunteers recommend laying some previously bought, cheap, roughly-cut, un-poisoned carrots in a trail in the days before the poisoning process begins.

They also recommend participants alert their neighbours to ensure no pets are harmed in the process.

The cumulative bait should be picked up on all dates; Friday, 11, Monday, 14^, and Thursday, 17 February between 2pm and 4pm – from 1824 Steiglitz Road, Maude, next to the tennis courts – and laid on each of those nights.

Bags of Pindone-spiked carrots need to be ordered by Thursday, 3 February, and can be purchased by anyone in the wider Shire, Geelong, and Ballarat areas, as long as they are happy to travel to the pick-up point.

Twenty-kilogram bags are $78, 10 kilograms go for $44, while five kilograms are worth $29. Deliveries cannot be made, but orders can be held until after hours on workdays, if previously arranged.

To order or ask questions, contact Laura Hollingsworth via [email protected], Elaine Johns on 5281 9395, or Lex Stray on 5281 9293.