How an ancient technique is helping to ferret out region's rabbit problem

It was a popular technique the ancient Greeks and Romans used to control an overpopulation of rabbits, but one south-west family is putting the humble ferret back in the spotlight.

Pest controller Thomas Lenehan said a rise in rabbit populations had him turning back to the age-old method.

"My grandfather was a ferreter and so was his brother, so I've been doing it my whole life on-and-off," he said.

"I'd like to see it become more popular but it's a dying art. My grandfather used to tell me stories about how he'd catch 100 rabbits in a morning but when the Calicivirus came through and wiped the numbers out, it faded a bit.

"But I reckon they're on the way back up so I thought I'd get started again with the ferrets."

Mr Lenehan said his five female ferrets used their keen sense of smell to track the rabbits, before pushing them out from underground.

He then used a net to catch the pests before dispatching them and feeding them back to the ferrets.

"It's the only way you can actually get the rabbits while they're underground," Mr Lenehan said.

"For me, it's one of the most natural ways to control rabbits but its popularity as a technique depends almost entirely on the numbers which always fluctuate in this region unlike places like Ballarat.

"At the moment the most popular technique is primarily baiting, particularly around spots like Tower Hill and Lake Pertobe, but that can often kill other animals and birds accidentally.

"There's a lot of shooters around here too, but personally I think this is one of the most natural and targeted ways to control rabbits".