Roxburgh’s Neville Hazlett and Ritchie McNeish are men on a mission - to protect the Roxburgh Golf Course from an ongoing rabbit problem.

They’ve been at it for more than two years, sometimes spending two hours volunteering a week to keep the rabbits ‘manageable’ and ‘under control’.

The pair, both members of the golf club committee, have been instrumental in putting up more than two kilometres of rabbit netting to try to keep rabbits off the course.

The warratahs and wires were put in by community volunteers bringing their own local farmer know-how to the task.

“We got a bit of a payment of $1,500 towards a poisoning operation once… the council can be a bit reluctant to spend money,” Neville said.

“I did the clearing with my own digger for the fence line. We got the posts through some local funders… but the labour was all of our own. 

“That’s the beauty of living in a country district, we know how to work machinery and put in a fence post.”

Neville said club members had helped to staple the netting and clip it all on the wires, almost the whole way around the course.

The main entry and side of the golf course along the main road had not been fenced as access had to remain.

If Neville and Ritchie hadn’t decided to tackle the problem the course would have been ruined relatively quickly as the rabbits destroy huge amounts of vegetation and dig holes.

“People have sprained ankles…one rabbit can dig a lot of holes in a night.

“The worst part of it is if they dig up the greens. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing holes all through the greens,” Neville said.

Along with the rabbit proof fence Neville and Ritchie arrange a night hunt about once every three weeks, and also carry out poisoning with pindone (liquid baited carrots) and gas pellets to keep the rabbit population down.

They suspect the source of the rabbits is a large rough block of trees, gorse and broom on neighbouring council owned land. 

“The council’s not doing anything on their land… it’s covered in rubbish, broom and gorse. As a good neighbour they should be doing the same as us.”

Otago Regional Council’s website said rabbits are the number one pest in Otago, with conditions perfect for them. Rabbits as young as five months old can have up to 50 babies a year. 

Neville and Ritchie know they’re never going to get them all, but “you’ve got to take a stand somewhere”, Neville said.

There are around 80 members of the Roxburgh Golf Club, and the club will celebrate its 100 year anniversary in August.

The cattle stop and rabbit proof fence keeping the bunnies off the golf course. PHOTO: The Central App

Rabbit holes... a small pellet is placed in them, then water added and the resulting gas takes care of business Ritchie said. PHOTO: The Central App

A rainy day on Roxburgh's golf course, where only three rabbits were spotted while The Central App took a tour. PHOTO: The Central App