One of our neighbours has problems with rabbits on their land which lies adjacent to ours and they are going to permit a guy on to shoot during "silent hours". He has also offered to dispose of those on our land free of charge. I feel I have to treat him as a contractor regardless of any fee and would want him to go through same processess - questionnaire, quals etc before I make any decision. Has anyone in the rural sector out there had any experience with a "volunteer??" coming onto their land to carry out this activity - insurance implications??

Thanks Stephen Forestry document interesting. We are not tendering for this work to be done, just that neighbouring landowner has asked us on his behalf if we would permit him to come onto our land to do the same free of charge. I will be putting appropriate control measures should we decide to go ahead. Thanks again for info.

Thanks very much for your comments. I have a fair few factors to consider here - the activities/animals on our site, no lone working, hours of working - cannot be done during normal daylight/working hours, proximity of any public rights of way, have had problems with tresspassers in the past as well and will permitting this actually make any significant difference to our rabbit population...... can you tell I'm not too keen on this.....?? Regards Dave

Dave Like you I am nervous about shooters. The agency I work for carries out animal control work for the government, so we have a lot of experience in this area. When we carry out an exercise on land where the public has access through rights of way we get very nervous. We close of paths and post spotters. the arrangements we use are complicated and we have to keep out a wary eye for activists and the like. The idea of someone just wandering about on you land and taking pot shots at rabbits is some we would not consider. The suggestion is that this will be done in the evenings. Now it’s getting dark this would suggest that they were thinking of lamping, which brings with it a range of problems. When we brought contractors onto out site to manage the rabbit population we insisted that they provide us with a thorough method statement (safe system of work) and in particular they clearly describe their safe shooting angles’ ie they would not be firing willy-nilly but aiming their guns away from the boundary and buildings and anywhere where there might be people. I am finally asking you the question: Are the rabbits a pest on your land? If they are not causing a problem, then leave them be. Remember, if you permit the shooter onto your land, your are creating a new hazard, and that you have duty to ensure the safety of anyone visiting your land (Occupier’s liability) so you would have to put up signs etc. and check you fencing to make sure it would keep out trespassers. Yes I’d be nervous.