THE RABBIT PEST.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1041, 31 March 1882, Page 4

THE RABBIT PEST.

In his report to the Under Secretary on the rabbit rest, the Chief Inspector of Stock gives the following information:

Kxphkikncks in' Victoria.—Babbits are tube found, lessor mute, all over the western mid north western portions of Victoria, and an far up tbo Murray as tho Ovens River, but in no great numbers as yet, and from Eobuoa upwards they are principally confined to the banks of the river. •In theWestern districts they are very numerous mid destructive, and in the Wimmera, win re the eonu try is comparatively scrubby and poor, it may be said they have all but taken- possession of tbc Crown lands, and (o a large extent also of lire alienated land. ■On-one property alone in the Oolac d airict it in-said that between £30.000 atfd £40,000 'drive’ been spent in destroying rabbits, while si mo owners are paying as much as £2OOO a yc ir td keep them down, many £IOOO a year, and almost every "holder of land is vear by ' ear put to considerable expense in protecting his pasture and •crops from these pests A great many modes of dealing with tliis evil'have been t ted in Victoria, vie . fencing the rabbits out, shootl,ing. 'hunting with dogs, ferre ting and ■ netting, vnanng-and trapping, digging out and hlofckinc tip the hui rows, and destroying the rabbits with noxious gas and poison. ! l'i all these modes, again, the work is at times done by the owner’s own men, "sometimes by contract, and at other times under ' the bonus system. When the rabbits are to be fenced out. a wire netting 4ft. broad, with 24in mesh, is put on an ordinary wire fence, 'the netting to the extent of one foot being bent and put in the ground at an angle to prevent the rabbits from burrowing. They try to do so close at the foot of the fence, but stop when they come upon the netting. The cost (f the netting for a fence rabbit proof of this sort is about £SO a mile, and if it is found that rabbits cross (bo Murray after our land is cleared, and Victoria continues to ba infested, it may be necessary to run a rabbit proof fence along the river to keep them from again obtaining a footing in this colony. Doga (terriers, cockers,-and other dogs which hunt by scent) and guns are generally used together, thiiugh kangaroo dogs and greyhounds are taken out with the terriers to kill the rabbits they put up. Where the rabbits have made a settlement, the moat effective, but the most expensive, way is to dig them out. or. where it can be done (in rocky and atony ground), to block up the burrows and .starve the rabbits in their holes. ‘Ferrettingcancl netting is also a very successful mode of destroying them ; but ferrets are-comparatively scarce, they are liable to be lost, and everyone cannot manage them. "A good many have also been taken in traps and snaios, but these appliances ate abo exitensive and comparatively slow. 'The exterminator (the ma- ■ clime employed to charge the burrows with noxious gas) is-also in seme cases an effective mode, but it is expensive, and the machine is cumbersome and unwieldy to fake about, while the holes at times in the warrens are of such a sort (as in tho case of bilbee and woriibat holes, of which the rabbits take possession) as to render the gas inoperative.; and in other cases there are fissures in the ground which allow it to escape. A good many different sorts of poison have been laid, and in a great many different vehicles. (1) The Poison.—The poisons most frequently used have been arsenic and phosphorus, and in a few cases strychnine. Arsenic has been longest used generally in conjunction with sugar and loan. Phosphorus, again, has been more recently tried, and is now far more generally laid than any other poison. (2 ) The Vehicle.—A mixture of-crushed wheat and sugar, or bran and sugar, has been found an excellent vehicle, so far as destroying the rabbits is concerned, but the mixture is dangerous for st ck, more especially sheep. Whole wheat has been used successfully, with arsenic, and latterly with phosphorus, but does not seem to retain the poison so long as the oats,-and is mote liable to be eaten by sheep. Oats have within the last few years been employed very successfully and extensively as a vehicle for phosphorus. Carrots have also been ttied with good results as a vehicle for arsenic. This is what was to be expected, as all animals are fond of carrots, but the supplv is comparatively limited, and in many cases they cannot he laid without endangering the stock ; they are poisoned by braising'the outside and strewing it with arsenic. Potatoes have been use 1 successfully as a vehicle for strychnine, and could of course also be used for other poisons,-especially arsenic. Turnips, pumpkins, and melons, could he used in the same-way as carrots ; and cabbage leaves, turnip tops, green corn, and sorgham could also be made vehicles by slitting or ope’iing them, where there is room, and laying the poi-on in tire slits or openings. But all these, like carrots and potatoes, can only be used where the stock can be removed from the paddock, or where these vehicles can be laid where the stock cannot get them. In cases, however, where the rabbits have been reduced in number, and ■ i’r is os' course of great importance to complete their destruction, sufficient precautions could he taken by laying down holl -w logs, digging boles in tiie ground, fencing off small patches, and in other ways to keep the stock from reaching the poisoned vehicle. Oil of rhodium has been employed successfully in conjunction with some of these vehicles as an attraction for the rabbits, and, although expensive, might be added where they cannot otherwise be induced to take the poison, or it might be so to make their, take it more readily The reports under this bead are vety conflicting, '■with regard to effect of poisoned grain, ft ■' is allow ed that the poisoned grain is not ' nearly-so successful when the grass is green and plentiful as it is when dry and scarce Tt is also generally allowed that while oats ■ and wheatwith poisoned phosphorus have at first been-successful in destroying the ■ rabbits,- it is at the same time the opinion that the r.ihhi's after a time cease to take •either the one or the other, it thffik, however, that these results are only what were to he KX-pcc'ed. When the grass is plenti'fnl and gre--n not only will the rabbits he - noinparati velv careless about fond such as oats or wheat, hut they will -nut he so likely to see the grain on the ground as they would when the grass is brown and hare. Then again, all animals are endowed in a greater or less degree - with the instinct which leads them to refuse to rake what they ai-e is destroying them. The rabbits would at first—and perhaps for a Iff tie time in the case of arsenic, and longer in that of phosphorus, which is a slow poison—take the grain,; but as soon as those which took it began tn die in any number the others would stop eating the grain. It. is well known that the s une thing happens where poison is laid for native dogs, rats and other animals. Although I tlffnk the failure of the'attempts made in Victoria to destroy tho rabbits with poison is largely due fount -changing the vehicle in which ihe prison I was laid, tho main cause of the failure there 'has. in my opinion, been tho want, of aimnl"ta neons action on the part of the owners whosoland was Infested with rabbits -The Jaw m Victoria is only applicablerto a portion of the landk of the colony—that alienated by the Crown ; and even in the ease -of land to which tho law does apply it has ■.tr-ury seldom been enforced, for it ib is pro vsi-ied, nojK-aaltyior neglecting to destroy.

There tlio defaulting owner can only ho compelled to do so by tho Shire Councils—who have the carrying out of the Act—putting men on the defaulter’s bolding to destroy tho rabbits and, like our own Boards of Directors, these Councils dislike to exercise this power, and have seldom or nev r done so. Tho result has been, that while some owners did all they could to clear their land, others did nothing, Tho rabbits are, therefore, increasing in some districts; ns numerous as ever in others ; and, although a great many have been destroyed, their spread has not lie really checked, for they are every other month making their appearance in fresh districts. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that in Victoria owners speak hopelessly of being able, except at an expense which would he most oppressive, to do more‘than keep the rabbits down ; but there is little doubt that the result there would have been altogether different had owners been- compelled, as they can be in this colony— and as T trust they will be -to carry out the work of extermination promptly and simultaneously on all the holdings.

SUGGESTIONS FOR DESTROYING THE .RABBITS IN THIS COLONY. 1. They should provide themselves with dogs of the terrier, cockdb, pointer, or setter breeds, to put up the outlying rabbits, which could then be allot or run down with kangaroo dogs or greyhounds This is very necessary,as necessary :is rabbits (principally does in young) are lying out in considerable numbers in the bushes and scrubs 30.40, and even SO miles ahead of the burrows, and they will not move unless they are trampled on or hunted up by dogs. The great difficulty of dealing with this “advanced guard” is, of course, the finding them ; and this ■can only be done with certainty by dogs of the sort I have mentioned, which should be distributed in twos nr threes among the “rabbiters” and boundary riders on the runs

2. Wherever there are any traces of rabbits, owners should commence at once and carry out some such systematic course of poisoning as the following : (1.) They should where they are in a position to do so, obtain and use proper machines for mixing the poisons. Where they are not, the Board should —as some of them have already done—purchase and supply at first cost the poisoned grain properly mixed. (2.1 They should use a slow poison like phosphorus, where the rabbits which t.ake it go away by them,-elves and die in holes and places where they are not likely to attract the notice of the rest. (3) They could, as the first vehie'e for the poison, use oats, and in putting them out they should so do the work as that the poison would be completely within the rea;h of all the rabbits in the one colmy or warren so that the one portion of them will not see the other dying without also having had a chance of taking the poisoned grain.

(4 ) Then they should, in the course of a month nr so, lay poison again with an entirely different vehicle, say carrots, pumpkins, potatoes, or some other vegetable, taking care, of course, that these vehicles are laid out o‘‘ reach of thestock --in the holes among logs, in brush fences, or in enclosures from which the stock have been removed. The brush fences out not to be destroyed unless the poisoning foil. (5. ) After that again, if any rabbits still remain, wheat or maize might be tried, and after that, if necessary, cabbage leaves or green corn tops.

In tills way, by regularly ami systematically changing the vehicle in which the poison is laid, it is believed that, the rabbits can be brought to take one set of poison after another till they are exterminated, or so far destroyed that those that remain can easily be entirely cleared off by other means than poison. (.'1 ) If it is seen that the rabbits are taking the poison the digging out and blocking up of the burrows might be deferred wheie they are very numerous, bur, to test whether or not they are being destroyed by the poison the burrows should be Closed in such a way that it will be seen if the rabbits aie using them. If they are not taking the poison all the burrows, except where th“,v are very numerous, ie , where there is a regular warren, should be dug out. Indeed, in any case w here the burrows are at all isolated they should be dug out and the rabbits destroyed, notwithstanding that poison is being laid and other steps taken for their extermination. (4.) Where there is a considerable number of burrows in one locality, but too scattered to operate upon with the exterminator, instead of digging them out, another plan might he tried The burrows might be enclosed with a rabbit proof fence of wire netting. To make such a fence wire netting four feet or five feet wide, with (say) 2‘j inch mesh, could be used by bending 12 in. of the 4ft netting and 18 in. of the five, and letting the bent portion into the ground at an angle, so that when the rabbits attempt to burrow (as they do at the bottom of the portion of netting which is above ground) they are met by the wire and stopped In a case such as this it would be better to use the oft netting, as that would not only give bin more in" the ground, but would make a bin higher (:!,|ft) rabbit proof fence.. Then supposing that the fence is thoroughly secured traps could be constructed at the cornets and other suitable points in the fence on something like the same principle as rat-trana, but of course on a very much larger scale. These traps could he visited daily, and the rabbits found in them destioyed, whilst the person who does that work could also see whether the rabbits were attempting to burrow under the fence from cither the outside of the in, and if they were he ccu-d put a piece of wire netting across the course tiny were taking, or ho could in some other way stop them. The rabbits inside the fence would thus be either trapped or starved, and when they were the months of the burrows could be filled up and the fencing removed to another place. Reasons for Compulsion. —The success of i Ire steps which are about to be taken for the extermination of the rabbits will almost entirely depend upon their being carried out simultaneously. If they are ordinarily effective and simultaneous, the work will be quickly and inexpensively done ; but if some owners kill and others do not, or if some do their work thoroughly and others only partially, oreven if every on ner should destroy the rabbits, but at different times, their extermination wil be costly and tedious, while the rabbits willcontinneiospread, and it may De, will never be completely exterminated. Although this is clea ly the case, there are seme owners it the infested districts who would fad to do their share of the work as they ought and it will, therefore. have to be made quite plain to every one of them that ho must clear his land (if the vermin as promptly and thoroughly as ■possible. He must, in fact,'be brought to make the extermination of the raibits a special and argent business which will brook ino delay— not as a good many would otherwise treat it-—something which can be done at their convenience and in a half-and-half >way. ‘lt is to ho feared, too, that some ■ owners will content, themselves with feeble and fitful attempts at whit they term “(keeping the rabbits down, ” and will not, unless they are compelled, aim at, extermination. Anything shoi t of that should not bo

countenanced for a moment, for if it is the colony will be put to a heavy annual outlay in 11 keeping the rabbits down" and they may get into country where it will he impossible to exterminate them, er even prevent them spreading. Hence the necessity for thorough and close supervision, and compulsion in every case of neglect 5 and as there is no question but the work can ho done, if set about at once with vigour, the sooner and more effective'y it is so the better, even for those who may have to be •compelled to do their share ; while, if any owners require compulsion, they should receive no sympathy whatever, especially when tho extreme urgency of the matter is considered, and when it is recollected that if they clear their land they would bo repaid to a large extent for their trouble and ex(penge.