New wild rabbit protection regulations will be published in the coming days, the Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretariat said in a statement.

It said the current Protection of Wild Birds and Wild Rabbit Regulations would be repealed by the new legislation.

While under the old regulatory regime, the rabbit hunting season was between June 1 and December 31, no regulatory distinction was made between the hunting of wild rabbit with gun and their capturing using dogs, ferrets and nets.

Although the season dates would not change, rabbit hunting with gun in June, July and August would only be permitted on land registered with the Department of Agriculture and subject to written consent of the title holder between two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset from Monday to Saturday and between two hours before sunrise until 1pm on Sundays and on public holidays.

Under the new regulations, licensed rabbit hunters/capturers would have a legal obligation to report their rabbit bags through Carnet de Chasse, which would enable the authorities to collect bag statistics.

The secretariat said penalties were also being drastically increased, to be in synch with the level of penalties for violations of Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations. Additional legal protection measures were also introduced to safeguard against potential disturbance to ground nesting birds.

The secretariat said the reform took into account proposals put forward by the planning authority, the FKNK, rabbit hunting enthusiasts and Birdlife.