STOATS AND WEASELS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 942, 8 October 1910, Page 10

STOATS AND WEASELS.

i . Sir,—Allow.me to testify to the.magnificent work stoats and weasels-are now doing in. New Zealand in keeping. the rabbit pest, and. blowfly, pest also,. I .under. . .There is but .'one opinion, on the sheep-runs of Wair'arapa-,' viz., that poison, by itself, would'not succeed m conquering /.the rabbit'' pest," as.' it>lS now conquered, especially, over the-wide 'areas of -South ■ Wairarapa: :; People, also .do not,, realise that,- in : Austraha,l the blowfly pest has now become 'almost as bad there;as the.'rabbit pest;l,Wowflies naturally, follovrexcessive poisoning operations.. By having',the■■"natural balance" in New Zealand of "preyupon prey," we have escapedimahy evils.:.•*./: ,It-was this great'principle that guided me, in 1883, 'when I "first Wgan meaj: sures to conquer the-pest.on-my piyn ( . run, .and 'now in 1910,: after'seven years,':'l- : can but testify/to'., the: great good ithatf. has been done. • Australia;ihas never, recognised, the principle, with the /result that the whole, of that/island continent '; is 'suffering severely : - from 'its ill-advised poisoning ! Patch-p'oisonirig may.; be useful. ; I do not say..that, it is; .'norwould T'i-u'se it; but; providing it is kept to .the-minimum, and does not injure' •tlie' naturai-balaticff,;of.'• ''prey, upon prey","' it can be tolerated. -.The 1 Agri-. cultural 'Department"should 1 give, up its: use as quickly as pdssible';- whiclv Can'l : easily- bo done;..if thCserat-.-.the ; head of: -J'affairs ;knew "how 1, to ; apply the" natural, "enemy-and. the.natural'diseases!'To.;my mind, poison is'as.bad as the trapping,: which,' of course, is fatal to rabbit clearance'. If the'natural enemy.is.properly. used,and ffiereis no neccs-; sityto'lay anounco of poison. -I-found' that, out about 1890,.-.and; quite aban-; doned its use. ';"■:■::'''■'.':'-.' ■'. 1 : -'-,''-,.-'

One matter'has,'.arisen ..which most; pleasurably: surprises me.: That is, the narmlessness ,of: the natural enemy .to, the poultry yards; ...I ; certainly expected settlers .would have'had. to protect their fowl-houses more than they have dene; •but;!- never hear now of damage being .'done.!..To:give anMnstance.:-vL was:,rid-: irig between Carterton* and 6reyto,wi r lately:■:when: there.-sprung '' out oh';-the; road'a sturdy weasel, evidently on the track-of a rabbit. ' Not, liking the metal road;;' or-' losing; the scenfc upon, ityf'.it retreated quickly back the way it came i' but I could: not help being struck with the':splendid little animal. Now,: this, happened close to Carterton, where' there a hundred' fowl' runs, yet. I -never; hear i,bf ;<me: being troubled byj. a w'easel. ' ily own, fowT'nm .is qtiito open ..to invasion, yet ( '' although there are plenty of- stoats : and weasels atout, not one-troubles me. ' Yet I have'found 1 a .dead stoat within twenty yards of the fowl-house,,.evidently..lrilled iri-'a fair, 'fight by dog or cat. ;Rats certainly do carry off a few chickens, -. There is hardly any ; way. to keep rats away,; as they naturally are attracted by the tiollard and gTain kept; for ; fowl feed';- The natural enemy are not so attracted, and they leave the fowls alone; .In Lancashire the farmers therejike to.havo the weasels' in their barn ■ yard staeks.r'as they.keep the rats,and mice away from the grain; and do no injuryto the poul-'; try. .. So.I think;we'can 'congratulate ourselves in this, Wellington province with the natural balance of "prey.upon prey'- that:now,Vrules.' '.I admit tho pheasants have .suffered.;; We cannoi keep a weasel awa^..from' a pheasant's egg; hut soiar.as the .sheep industry'is concerned, they are' Welcome; to: all the pheasants' eggs: in. the ; :coriritry. - -■ A word to .Australia,' whilst ,1 am writing. I';. advise sheepfarmers , there to, do as we did in New Zealand twenty to twenty-five years age, and give up any dependence, ripon scientific experiments. If they'cannot, get.in the stoat' arid weasel then there, are other natural, encrriies which they have in that greatcontinent' that: they ; can ..use. '. But they must get Nature's -balance _ of "prey upon prey" as quickly as possible," and cease their poisoning operations, or blowfly, locusts, beetles, and other. insect pests will ravage their lands, and make the life of a sheepfarmer 'a tfiiiig to bo.avoided.-, Tliis is what the;great Pasteur told Sir -Thomas M'Caughey," and two other Australian sheepfarmers in 1886, who -went.to .Paris specially, to seek his assistance against the. rabbit pest. He admitted thai he had'siicr cceded (by using chicken choleray inre-, ducirig the rabbits .upori a'certain fortvnrre.;farm ;for, a ~ lady 1 , and' asked Sir. Thomas; "Whiit acreage' do • you want me' to ' .deal with ?■' . .Sir. Thomas, M'Caughey said ""that the. .areas' were' lars;e in AustraliaV (I think he himself, had about 900,000 sheep, upon over a mili lion acres, in various parts of<:.the' States). ' Pastettr.shrugged his shoulders, ."Slid '.candidly said fas; .the ' true 1 - scientist he was),,"l.can do nothing for you.'.'. ' .That is why 1 have always -ield Australians that the truly.scientific.men can .do nothing for, them'... Brit .we have sblved theprohlemin New Zealand by the, use of the natural enemy.' The pity is that Australia has,not followed, suit, seeing, that 1 took..my naturally, diseased rabbits over -th'erp 'in 1888,-to show them the whole gamut of tho tiro? cess (natural diseases, naturally follofr- 1 irig thn.ltse of the natural, enemy)/-Our New..Zealand Agricultural: Department about these natural dis-. cases, which cart, also easily bo anplied! directly reliance upon nollard poisoning is.abandonedi, Luckily; the .natural diseases fire'at work'all over:Notv Zealand, and tho.'day may'come when pollard poison will: he,';abandoned. ■',Yet: tho Hon. Mr. AVado,> visiting,Masferton within : the "past, ;,twelve jiionths, ■ was gobcl enough :.to 'tell 'tho people there, that -they_ could .easily'; 'get' down- their rabbits .with noisan:'lvonly ' smiled when, I 'heard his opinion, as.'no.set'iof gentldmbri;h'aycv'madd a..worae;mess'of' this; rabbit 'rjiiestjon than . the " State Premiers: of Australia, during .'the r past' twenty years, by keeping their Crown lands a prey to the post, and'half ruining the sheep-industry;'. It is to,bo hoped tho' .Federal Cfovernhmnt" wi'l do something 'to save the Northern' Territory from .heing'overrun;with" tho pe'at. The next Australian drought will vastly increase the insect, pests' there, when', 'tho"folly of so much poisoning may striko home to them.-vl ain, etc., coleman Phillips;:'. Holsteiii Lodge,'" v Carterton, October 1, 1910. '" Sir,—l notice 'in. your columns that one membor of tho Houso complained of tlie dostrubtion of'chickens,by stoats and weasels,' and that another member.: characterised the complaint as "arrant nonsense." 'My osporience acrees with]

that of the; former. Three years ago I lost 12 chicks on one day, and 14 on the following ' day.' . Tho victims wore lying scattered, about the pen, somedead, and: some dying, each" with . a doublo puncture: at the back of the head. Three days afterwards a stoat was shot in the act of, chasing the surviving chickens. ; Tho body" was nailed upon the fowl-house'door, as a warning,just as the heads .of. traitors wero exposed on Temple Bar. This presumably had the desired effect, for since then I have been free from such unwelcoino visitations.—l am, etc.,'.. '<:■'-■:.-. •■•v' " ;: ' '■&■" E. ANSON. Lower Hutt.' „ '-;.■ r .'.