Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Burrowing rabbits at Aberdeenshire graveyard to be gassed

Post Thumbnail

A colony of rabbits causing havoc at a north-east graveyard is to be killed.

Aberdeenshire Council says it is enacting the “last resort” measure at Bass Cemetery in Inverurie following complaints from people with relatives buried there.

The animals have routinely been eating the flowers and plants left by grieving friends and family members for their loved ones.

They have also been burrowing underneath headstones, prompting fears that they could topple over onto mourners.

Next week, aluminium phosphide tablets will be placed in rabbit holes around the graveyard, releasing a “fast-acting” poisoning gas inside the burrow system.

The holes will then be sealed off.


BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: Two years of unlimited access to The P&J Digital — at better than half price!


While the gas usually disperses within 24 hours, Bass Cemetery will be closed for 48 hours as a precaution from Tuesday.

The local authority’s landscape services officer, Shirley Bruce, said: “Clearly this is a last resort but the problem is getting out of control and we receive a lot of complaints.

“We are asked on a regular basis to take action due to the damage caused to floral tributes.

“It is very upsetting for the recently bereaved to visit a family member soon after leaving flowers at their grave to see them destroyed.

“Whilst this action won’t be popular with everyone, it’s vital that we do it for safety reasons – some of the headstones could become unstable and could cause significant injury or worse should they fall.

“We’ve chosen to take this particular approach because it is known to be highly effective and we want to have a significant impact on the rabbit population as humanely as possible.”