From veg plot into stew pot

An allotment-holder likes nothing more than fresh rabbit to go along with the vegetables he grows, and Mr Dennis Roy (73) has a plentiful supply on his plot.

Mr Roy sets humane traps on his allotment at Bowbridge Road, Newark.

They entices rabbits that would otherwise munch their way through his crops and a hatch closes behind them locking them inside.

Mr Roy says he checks the traps at the start and end of each day so the rabbits are not in them for long.

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s environmental health team says it is illegal to trap an animal only if it is subjected to unnecessary cruelty.

Mr Roy, of Newark, previously tended seven allotments in Balderton, on which he was licensed to shoot rabbits.

“I have been catching and eating rabbits since I was very small. The taste is something else,” he said.

“I like nothing better than fresh rabbit. I make them into pies or stews with potatoes, runner beans and broad beans from the allotment.

“In these difficult times it is a great way of saving money.

“You can always tell a good rabbit by the condition of the liver.

“They say that myxomatosis can’t harm you but I would never eat one that had it.

“Rabbits are pests and they are a problem down here that no one, apart from ourselves, is willing to address.

“One person here spent £50 on plants and the rabbits had the lot.”

Mr Roy estimates he has caught 11 this year but says he has previously had a freezer full and has been asked for any spare.

Mr Roy says other allotment-holders also trap pests.

The plots are leased from Newark Town Council.

Another allotment-holder raised concerns about the trapping with the RSPCA and the district council’s environmental health department.

An inspector from each visited the site and warned those involved that they could be prosecuted if they caused unnecessary suffering.

A spokesman for the district council said trapping rabbits was not illegal provided they were not made to suffer unnecessarily.

There is nothing in the allotment leases to say rabbits cannot be trapped, and the town council has never had a set policy to say whether the trapping of pests is permissible or not.

The town council’s environmental services manager, Mr James Radley, said: “This is a grey area.

“We haven’t given permission for the trapping of rabbits but it is true that there is nothing in the leases preventing it either.

“It is something we will have to look at now and I will bring a report to committee.

“We offer a pest control treatment programme for our allotments but Bowbridge Road is an open site and we will never be able to completely secure it.

“Rabbits will always head to where they know food is available.”