DORSET cannot risk losing out on a major overhaul to a traffic hotspot ahead of next year’s Olympics because of rabbits, councillors are warning.

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, has joined the dispute and contacted the RSPCA. She intends to keep fighting the death sentence on the Canford Bottom Roundabout bunnies, despite Highways Agency bosses rejecting a petition to save the colony.

The work, which will see a dual carriageway section cut through the roundabout on the A31, will start this spring if funding is available.

After plans for work on the A338 Bournemouth Spur Road were shelved last week, Wimborne’s Dorset county councillor Robin Cook says hesitation is not an option.

Cllr Cook said: “This is almost a no-go area in summer. Any improvement is a high priority.

“Any delays caused by having to catch and re-home the rabbits could put the whole project in jeopardy.

“Nobody wants to see animals killed but we must put this in the right perspective. We cannot risk losing the chance that we have got to have this done.”

He added: “Nobody is a greater animal lover than me but these are pests and we have to face that as a fact.”

Ferndown councillor Lesley Dedman, chair of Ferndown’s Traffic Working Party, said: “The town council has been working for so long to get the traffic problems at Canford Bottom addressed.

“We are now seeing some progress on this important aspect of the whole Ferndown traffic problem.

“Nobody wishes to see harm come to a wild animal; equally this work on the roundabout must be done."