THE RABBIT QUESTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1772, 21 February 1888, Page 3

THE RABBIT QUESTION.

The enormous amount of mischief which has been wrought by the rabbit, repre senting as it does an actual money loss to the colony which may be reckoned by millions, renders it a matter of national .importance that the evil should be vigorously coped with. Not m New i Zealand only, but m the Australian colonies this is generally recognised, and not only have the various Legislatures passed more or less stringent Acts for dealing with the pest, but one colony — that of New South Wales — has offered a very substantial inducement, m the shape of a bonus of £25,000, to any inventor who can devise a thoroughly successful remedy. This, of course, has stimulated the energies of all sorts of people m all parts of the world, and hundreds of suggestions and schemes have been the result, most of which, however, are ntterly futile, and some so silly as to remind us of the venerable hoax of our nursery days about catching sparrows by salting their tails. One sapient inventor proposes to fit up big crates filled with green fodder of the most attractive kind, through which are to run a number of wires connected with an electric battery, so that all the rabbits that go into the crates to feed can be killed at once by the pressing of a button, and transmitting to them a powerful electric shock. Another, a senator, too, by-the-bye, proposes an armature of steel spikes to be strapped on to a number of buck rabbits, so that they may fight their unarmed relatives to death, while many other similarly silly mechanical contrivances have also been suggested from various quarters. Then a M. Renard (why isn't there a "y" m his name — the sly fox) described as a Professor of the Practical School of Agriculture of the Paraclete, near Boves (Somme) France, proposes that the rabbits should be inoculated with sheep scab, declaring that this would be an infallible means of destruction, having been tried with success m France. No doubt the remedy would be effective enough, but then unfortunately scabby rabbits would infect all our sheep country, and the sheep may just as well" starve because the rabbits eat the grass, as be destroyed by scab. Clearly M. Renard 's suggestion is out of Court altogether. Then there is the " natural enemy" method of coping with the difficulty. This is no doubt to a large extent effective, particularly m suitable localities, and the Fijian vga crab and native owl might perhaps prove very useful allies m the war agaiust bunny, and would not, we imagine, be destructive to poultry, or likely to attack either young lambs or young children. In this respect they would be a great improvement upon the ferrets and weasels, which will probably do both Indeed, we greatly fear that the wholesale importation of mustelida, which is now going on, will yet leah to very serious trouble m this respect. For notwithstanding the assertions of those who maintain that there is no danger to be apprehended from these creatures, we ar« constantly coming upon evidence to the contrary , For example we read only a day or two ago that recently "At Richmond, Yorkshire, a child of three years of age Avas nearly worried to death by a ferret. The mother was working at the paper mill, and the father was left m charge. He, however, went out

for about nn hour, leavjng $hp chud asleep m bed. During his absence a ferret got loose from a box and attacked the child m a most ferocious manner. The child cried loudly, but the neighbors took no notice, believing the father to. be m tho house. When the father entered the house he found the child literally covered with blood, and his face and arras were much injured." In the face of such occurrences as these it will not be a very pleasant thiug to {jave ferrets crawling about the pouu,try to thousands ; and if we are to fight tho rabbits by the aid of their natural enemies, it is well worth enquiring whether we cannot select for this purpose creatures which will not be dangerous to human beings and domestic animals. If we can do that, then by all means let this method, .of dealing with the nuisance be employed, but we are inclined to think that by far the most hopeful prospect of dealing with it successfully and thoroughly lies m the direction of propagating some disease which will be peculiar to the rabbit and which will not infect other animals, M. Pasteur's suggestion of Vising the microbes of chicken cholera looks the most feasible that has yet been offered, but presumably this mjght prove destructive to feathered creatures of all kinds, and it is not yet shown conclusively that under the altered conditions as to. climate, its importation iutq New Zealand could be conducted with absolute safety to sheep and other stock. The proposal to try the experiment upon some island on the coa.st is a, good one, but m order to its completeness there should be sheep, -cattle, and other animals as well as rabbits placed upon the island selected, as the theatre of tho experiment, m order | that it may be shown that while fatal to the rabbits the diseasQ pvopag^ted is not communicable to other animals. If both points are satisfactorily demonstrated, M. Pasteur will much more than deserve the £25,000 offered by New South Wales for tho solution of the problem, as his discovery \?ill me&n the saving of millions ot money. Meari white, that is whilo we are experimenting m the hopo of finding out a process of cure, there can be no two opinions as to the wisdom of using, alt possible means for the prevention of the evil spreading, and as the very bes.t measure to this end is v the fencing out of the rabbits from the country not as yet overrun, we are glad to see that it has been determined to erect at once the proposed rabbit fence on the Soytb,ern and Western bounds of . Canterbury, This will prevent the incursion of tbd Otago rabbit, wfcose hosts were threatening to pour m upon us, aud which once established among our back country would have speedily wrought as. great mischief as they have tUnje m Southland.