Battle for the Park is the seventh (and in linear terms the final) book of The Animals of Farthing Wood series. It was first published in 1992 and has since been included with The Siege of White Deer Park and In the Path of the Storm in the "Second Omnibus" edition (Hutchinson, 1995). Plot It is spring in White Deer Park and Dash the young hare, confident that she is quicker than every other animal in the reserve, wants to test her speed properly by running on the downland. She tells Plucky that she will find somebody to help her dig under the boundary fence and the young fox worries about her, but she soon forgets her remark and decides to remain in the reserve. However, when Plucky goes missing Dash employs the rabbits to help her get under the fence to look for him. Meanwhile, the animals discover that several other animals have gone missing from the park including Weasel. They also hear from Toad and Tawny Owl that several brown rats have entered the park and Fox tells everybody to kill any rat they see. Dash gives up her search and returns to the reserve only to discover that several humans are rounding up various animals using traps. She tells Fox and Vixen who go to investigate and when the humans leave in their van, Dash follows them out of the park gates and chases them across the downland towards a large enclosure surrounded by large walls. When Dash informs the others Fox decides to set up a rescue party to go and help their friends who have been captured. Fox also puts Badger in charge of the animals' battle against the rats, and several more rats arrive at the park and thrive, despite the animals' best efforts to combat the threat. The rescue party sets off for the second reserve and Tawny Owl flies over the wall to look for Weasel. Plucky hears his calls and fetches Weasel, but neither animal knows of any way in which they can escape so Tawny Owl is forced to leave. The animals continue their battle against the rats, who have also been discovered by the humans, so they decide to temporarily retreat and return to the park when the humans think the threat has gone. Meanwhile, Fox asks Whistler to fly to the new reserve and carry Weasel back to