ORC needs to do better on rabbit control

THE rabbit problem in Bannockburn is getting beyond a joke.

In particular, the northeastfacing hillsides that overlook the Bannockburn creek as well as areas of vacant semirural land within the village have some of the worst populations I have seen in the 25 years that I have lived in the Cromwell area.

It’s all very well for the chairman of the Otago Regional Council to say that landowners need to bear some of the responsibility of rabbit control but he is surely talking about large rural properties where it is possible to shoot. This is not possible within the confines of Bannockburn with many residential properties.

The recently spread virus has clearly been a failure in spite of claims by the ORC to the contrary.

It seems to me that like much that goes on in local bodies these days the focus has been on process and not on outcomes. Someone needs to ‘‘own’’ the rabbit control issue at the ORC and make it their job to actually eliminate as far as possible the rabbit problem.

Around here, the credibility of the ORC is at rock bottom, and unless it fronts up and does something serious, then residents will start taking their own measures.

Some sort of communication to the locals would be a good place to start — in other words, a focus on what is important rather than wasting everyone’s time on pointless discussions about such things as a new building.

Martin Anderson Bannockburn