PLANS for a massive cull of thousands of rabbits on the Downs have been called off, the Argus can reveal.

The proposals to gas the animals provoked an outcry when they were first put forward last June.

Eastbourne Borough Council postponed the scheme a month later after protests by animal groups including the RSPCA.

Campaigners said the plan was cruel and would indiscriminately kill other wildlife.

The authority insisted the delay was due to a restructuring of departments and not because of the protests, which included a death threat and bomb hoax by militant campaigners.

But Coun Olive Woodall, deputy chairman of the environment committee which originally agreed to the gassing, said yesterday the cull is unlikely to ever go ahead.

He added: "It is still an option but I don't think it is likely to be used now."

Coun Maurice Skilton, who campaigned against the plan as deputy leader of the council's ruling Lib-Dem group, said: "All those who worked so hard in the protests have done a wonderful job - they can sit back and relax."

Coun Skilton said the reason for calling off the cull was that the rabbit population has declined considerably over the past year due to myxomatosis.

He said: "I'm actually quite worried about the decline in numbers now and so are a lot of animal lovers."

Aspokesman for the RSPCA, based in Horsham, said: "This is very good news - we had great concerns about the way in which the cull was going to be handled."

"It could have been non-selective and harmed other animals which live in the warrens, including birds and mammals. We were not convinced by the council's arguments they had to be destroyed on such a wide scale.

Animal rights campaigner Rena Collins, of Dorset Gardens, Hove, said: "I'm absolutely delighted - over the moon. When I heard what they were planning to do it turned my stomach.

"If we leave nature alone it takes care of itself."

But other selective methods of control, including shooting, will continue to be used.

Aspokeswoman for the council said: "We are continuing our legal obligation to control pests." In July a council meeting to discuss the gassing was disrupted by around 100 protestors who heckled councillors and chanted "shame on you."

Apetition containing 1,300 signatures was handed to the authority urging it to think again.

In August, chairman of the authority's environment committee, Coun Bob Kirtley, was forced to review his personal safety after receiving hate mail from animal rights extremists not associated with the main campaigners.

One letter said: "Watch out - we're coming to get you."

Days later police were called to Eastbourne Town Hall after a call from a man claiming to be from the Animal Liberation Front warned a bomb had been planted in the building. Nothing was found.

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