Parisian bunnies on the move

All right so it might not be the news to end all news but hey, sometimes the lighter stories in life also need to be told.

And this one comes to you courtesy of the local authority in Paris, which has found a more compassionate solution (of sorts) to the overpopulation of rabbits in one of the city's famous parks, the Bois de Boulogne.

Now put away all thoughts of Watership Down or cute and cuddly creatures with big floppy ears and a loveable if cheeky character à la Beatrix Potter's Peter and his three sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail.

The rabbits in the Bois de Boulogne, even though they're part of the park's natural fauna, were becoming a "nuisance" as they had no natural predators and apparently the little critters had been breeding like...well rabbits, and the result?

Their number had reached a critical appoint according to the local authority, an estimated eight times more than the local vegetation could support which also left the total bunny population more fragile and predisposed to illness.

So the Powers that Be came up with a bright idea. Rather than culling, which might have been the easiest and more usual way of dealing with the problem, they called in the experts - l’Association de Lutte Contre les Espèces Invasives et Nuisibles (ALCEIN).

The plan was simple. Capture as many rabbits as possible - alive - and relocate them to another part of France, where there's supposedly a bunny shortage.

Association members, along with the help of the odd ferret or two, got down to business last week and successfully captured a grand total of 129.

Capture des lapins au bois de Boulogne
by mairiedeparis

Mission accomplished, the rabbits then spent a few days "behind bars" - oh all right then, in an enclosure of 50m2 - followed by a vaccination against myxomatosis before being moved into artificial burrows for a bit of R 'n R.

Next up is a trip to the Champagne region of France - about 200 kilometres away - not for a nip of the areas famous tipple, but instead to be released back into the wild.

So 129 happy bunnies who've escaped the threat of extermination in the nation's capital and instead they can hop away to their heart's content in the French countryside - until the hunting season starts presumably!