FERETS, FUR AND FEATHERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2134, 14 May 1889, Page 2

FERETS, FUR AND FEATHERS

It la one of the delusions amongst many runholdera that the ferret fs the beat agent Id the desttuotlon of rabbits. Vast aunas of money have been spent In breeding ferrets and turning them out on the rone, , and Btlll the rabbit are In the asoendant. A. striking inatitnc, of this la famished m the report of *n Interview the Qaeenstnwn correspondent <>? a Daoedln paper iiad with Mr B. H. Wllmott, a surveyor who has just returned from a trip to the Weet Ooaat, Mv- Wilmott, In replying to qaeriua from the reporter, aaid that the ferre'B tamed onfc nnt by tbe Government on the Eglington fhtß had done nothing to check the rabbits ; and then went on to tell how, on one occasion, the party had oamped alongside a ferret warren. " How ra»r.y were m It," s»yß Mr Wllmott, "of oonrce we could not tell, but they we^e evidently not energetic rabbit hunter?. When we had cleaned the hun~ niea destined for oooklng the vermin oame ont and draw the od trails, and even the skins in^o, their burrowa. Notwithstanding the presence of large numbers of ferrate the Bglinton simply awarms with r&bbita, I never saw them ao thick anywhere. On one ocoasion two of ua killed ten, with walking stlcka In about ten minutes, and on another, when all hands were foraging for a supply to carry with ua on the maroh, we killed some 40 m lobb than half an hour with stloks, so you oan judge they were pretty thick. Oar •pinion Is that tbe ferrets prefer feathers to for, and will sor n exterminate kakapos, kiwis, wekaa, and ducks cf all sorts In the dtatriot, whilst they are evidently unequal to , the task of obeoklng (ho westward spread of the rabbit pest. It la a great pity they were ever turned out on tbe Eglinton." This is very strong evidence as to the* folly of wasting money In turning useless vermin loose over the country "Bush Advocate."