"Rabbits have caused severe damage... we are talking about costs of hundreds of thousands of euros," said Antti J. Rautiainen, a construction project manager with the city authorities.

The floppy-eared fiends have been nibbling their way through some of Helsinki's most-prized city gardens, damaging footpaths as they build their burrows underground, and eating into 200,000 euros (265,000 dollars) from the parks' 12.5-million annual budget in the process.

The rabbits have proved to be more than a match for authorities in Helsinki, who have tried and failed to keep the population under control.

"Last September we started to test ferrets in rabbit hunting. They are suitable for breaking up rabbit communities. We have also used guns, bows, nets and traps," Rautiainen explained.

Those efforts appear to have failed.

Last summer, the rabbit population in Helsinki was estimated to be around 7,000, but many say the population is now closer to 10,000.

Now, the ministry of agriculture and forestry says it plans to change the law to cut the protection time in the spring and the summer when hunting is forbidden.

Environmental groups oppose any drastic changes, arguing it could lead to more cruelty towards rabbits.

But Christian Krogell, deputy director general at Finland's ministry of agriculture and forestry, said there would be still some times of year when it would be forbidden to hunt rabbits, but that the methods used would be reviewed.

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