FARGO (AP) - A North Dakota State University worker using a pellet gun to shoot rabbits prompted a call to police, a search for a gunman, and brought a halt to the campus rabbit control policy.

Fargo Police Capt. Tod Dahle said a woman called 911 at 6:42 a.m. Wednesday, to report a "man pointing a rifle out of the window of his vehicle."

Dahle said Fargo and university police began searching for a suspect, then learned from NDSU officials that the woman likely had seen a school maintenance worker.

Ray Boyer, director of NDSU police and safety, said landscape employee Wayne Larson was just following orders in using a pellet gun to get rid of the rabbits, which destroy campus plants and crops.

Boyer said school officials have used the rabbit-control policy for years but never had a complaint about it. The policy now will be canceled, he said.

"We're agriculture researchers and our ag research plots are very valuable to us," NDSU spokesman Dave Wahlberg said. "For many years, one of the means we used to control pests was to send a physical plant person out with an air gun and do pest control. We know now that in today's culture, that for an individual who doesn't know what's going on, the sight of somebody driving around the campus with a weapon can be alarming."

Wahlberg said NDSU will use traps and other pest control methods to deal with rabbits.

"The individual who called 911 did absolutely the right thing. That's another reason to change our practice, because we want to people to be alert," he said. Residents should not have to be forced to decide whether they are seeing a gunman or a pest control worker, he said.

Discharging firearms, including pellet guns, within Fargo city limits is illegal, but no charges will be recommended against Larson, Boyer said.

"This employee was in the course of his duties and he had my approval to do so," Boyer said.

"The way the ordinance is written, you can't even carry it around town if it's not in a case," Dahle said. "You can't discharge those (firearms) in town."

But Dahle said Fargo police do not plan to recommend charges because the incident took place on campus, giving university police control of the case.

"How NDSU chooses to handle the situation is NDSU's business," Dahle said. "I doubt we're going to overrule their call."