HOW CAN I MAKE SURE MY OUTDOOR RABBIT IS SAFE FROM FOXES?

Don’t rely on chicken wire on the run or hutch if you are making your own. A fox can get through this. Use Twilweld aviary netting, preferably 16 gauge, from garden centres or DIY stores. "Chicken wire was designed to keep chickens in, rather than foxes out," says Trevor Williams of the Fox Project. Also check the hutch locks. Foxes can lift latches and open swivel locks. Foxes can also dig under a run. If your run is static, you should run the Twilweld into the earth to a depth of about 8 inches at an outward angle. The other alternative is to place cheap flagstones round the edge of the run. If it is a moveable run you could move the flagstones with it, but it would probably be easier to buy a hutch on legs and put the animals there at night. If possible put up a solid fence round the garden – foxes are less likely to go for something they can’t see. Artificial tunnels and pipes will also offer protection inside the run. Do not leave rabbits out unsupervised in any area visited by foxes, badgers, cats or dogs.


HOW CAN I KEEP MY RABBITS SAFE FROM BADGERS?

Badgers will eat hutched rabbits and once they learn to do so will come back for more. Get rid of latches and put on bolts. Foxes can lift latches, and so do badgers occasionally. "You need to add wldmesh or chain link, with wire that is two and a half milimetres in diameter. Badgers can get through chicken wire." advises Penny Cresswell Lewns of the Badger Consultancy (www.badgerconsultancy.co.uk). "Keep the chicken wire in place because the chain link will be too wide a mesh to keep the rabbits inside."