Some users of the common have expressed concerns and even horror at the sight of rabbits being hunted and trapped with dogs and ferrets at weekends.
Golf course manager Michael Harris and L’Ancresse Commons Council president Andre Quevatre said they understood islanders’ concerns at the method of control, but the rabbit population was continuing to grow and the area was becoming overrun with thousands of rabbits.
‘We have not had any cases of myxomatosis for the last few years and there are no natural predators here,’ said Mr Harris.
‘Buzzards will only really take the young and have little to no impact.
‘Some mornings there can be 40 to 60 rabbits just sitting around one hole. I’ve been green-keeping now for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like the situation here.’
The 190-acre golf course is leased from the Commons Council and Mr Quevatre said it agreed with the golfers’ position.
‘We’re more than happy with the way they’re trying to handle this,’ he said, ‘and we understand the frustration that they’ve got in trying to deal with it.
‘The rabbits are causing a lot of damage.’
He said, as well as their sizeable burrows, the rabbits dig small holes across the common that are a hazard to all users.
‘We would like to shoot them at night with an air rifle, which would be the least intrusive and most humane way to deal with the problem,’ said Mr Harris.
‘However, according to the law, you can shoot with an air weapon or shotgun on private land, but you can’t here, because it’s public land. So the only means we can use is where the animal has first been trapped using a net or cage trap.’
He added that the removal of the rabbits, which never included pregnant females, tended to be done at weekends as the hunters carrying out the work all had full-time jobs.
It was also allowed only during the official hunting season, which runs from October to the end of January.
Golf course management have even taken the step of having the course and parts of the surrounding area reclassified so the rabbits could be officially designated as pests.
‘So we would be allowed to control them outside of the hunting season, under a specific licence, but they have to be trapped in cages and then relocated or euthanised. Who’s going to want them?’ said Mr Harris.
‘That work has to be done by licensed operators who have to check the traps twice a day, a minimum of eight hours apart. The costs would be off the chart, so it’s not something we’ve ever taken further.’
Mr Harris said that so far they have only had a few twisted ankles among golfers but the damage to the course was a personal injury ‘time bomb’.
‘It’s not just golfers and dog walkers but you have Parkrun every Saturday and lots of other events on the common,’ he said. ‘I know there are no horse races here any more but if you even wanted to bring it back it would be absolutely impossible.’