The rabbit population has been thriving in the southern French town of Baillargues, leading to serious damage to local agriculture, golf courses and railway embankments. In response, Mayor Jean-Luc Meissonnier has launched an unconventional campaign that has caught people’s attention. Large posters have been placed at around 60 bus stops and other locations, warning of the harm caused by wild rabbits and providing a recipe for making rabbit ragout.
While the campaign was meant to be humorous, Meissonnier emphasized the serious impact that the rabbits were having on his community. He pointed out that farmers were losing crops due to the rabbits’ grazing habits, the local golf course was being damaged by their burrowing activities and the railway embankment was being destroyed by their digging.
Animal rights activists have criticized Meissonnier’s approach, arguing that hunting foxes, natural predators of rabbits, had recently been banned. Instead of cooking up a stew from the rabbits, they suggested capturing them and releasing them in areas where their populations had declined. The debate surrounding this issue has sparked discussions within the community about alternative methods for controlling wild rabbit populations.
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