RABBIT NUISANCE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1110, 10 August 1883, Page 3

RABBIT NUISANCE.

Wo have (Morning Herald) received the fi>t 1 1> winif uii'u ilar ieltjr from Mr C. de V. Tnsuhemaker!—■ , ri a paper I lately sent you I endeavoured to show that we Huffol'e , directly and indirectly, an annual lose of l< LI,TOOO.O'IOfrom the rabbit uuU»iu.«, ,J A careful consideration of tlm various • items of loss enumerated in my last paper * will L think make it abundant,ly clear fiiat the losses occasioned 'he rahhit alone to I New Z ah'h'i froin IS7 Ato I s ßd will have ( reached,the,enormous uitm of LIO.QhO'hOO c .It has liei n sain,to mc.that th.fl evil exists, and will only he trould.isojno.iun the outskirts'of i(Vilis fl t'''m ..To anyone liyi.ijef im <• a town the pi.Ueai.rt-s seem vei y remote ; to ii those living in the country the outskirts are very near. It must;also he rememberedtint New Zealand Consists principally, of V . tlie, outskirts of civilisation .will the country .(J beyond, it. It is-also said that,.this state ot hj ‘firing is very bad for the squatter, and 1 think that .•these are the .views generally taken; but! it must he. admitted -that c though once this might have been’so it has 1) now changed—the loss s no. longer m li- f vldual, but national ; the eyil ls 'no longer 0 ■jocai,',, but.general. The State, ris.’,.the chief proprietor, and it is the public lands that v ■are fenoered- worthless. The settled dig- “ trie's of New Zealand are intersected or f, founded.on. one side by mountain range*,’ ) and hr ; thcfe v mou"tain rangesrthe [ : finds L a 'liVcure 'refuge. Whooceii/it ’ gtllies l *'- 4 forth to devastate the sut rounding country. 8 It must be borne in mind, speaking l ,getter* | f ally, that njlhu one si'le of the rabit , f country (the'settle I side) we are using,eer- i tain means for checking the pes ; yet, upoft the Unsettled side, the rabbit, uu- n checked, continues to increase, ami all 1 round the fringe of the rabbit, country is • year, by year extending. We at present destroy the rabldt by means of poi-ou and burring in various v ways, such as trapping, shooting,' kc. The t season for such operations is, principally, J the win er months - first, because when / there is a scat city of grass, the rip-hit will ‘ more eagerly take the poison ; ami secondly, the winter being the slack time of the year, i labour is easily obtained for rabbit killing, j The work done by the rahl-it. er is ne’es- j sariiy incomplete, for, .when the payment is by results, the raid litter only hunts a where the rabbit is thickest; and w here the a payment is not by results, the w rk is too c often done in a very pe functory manner ; £ and as the season advances the i abbitter changes his occupation for shearing, bar- ■ vesting, etc. ; the grass grows, and the ; 1. rabbit vi 1 nor, take the poison, at any rate , r as readily ; the busy season is on, and the q, rabbit is neglected for more pressing work This the very rime that the most strenuous ] elTor's should n e made. J When a. man has symptoms of some dis- s ease which threatens to beconv c ,runic, his advisers a,lop no half measures, but grapple - the difficulties at the onset; if those; 1 moans fail others are resorted to. .So when I f we are threa < tied by a calamity, the »ymp- , t ttiras of which are pretty defined, an 1 ; , when the means used are not thoroughly ! effectual, we also should c >st about for some ’ othei way in the hope that it may be sue- 1 eessfnl. . C Then how should we continue onr opega. tions and carry the warfare into the Heart of the rabbit country and into the unsettled ' portions of the districts, or of the Is and ? , f The onlv way seems to me by the employ- v meut of the rabbit’s natural enemy. 1 will j s not now discuss the most active and deadly , natural enemy, seeing that the only one we ' have is the ferret. The trained ferret, 1 ; 1 contend, should he turned out in the spring t in mU'iads. and the force be supplemented r the following spring by a larger supply, ant • so on. Onr cours ■ should then bo a vigor •> oua et f 'teement of the Act f oni May until Snptemher or October, when the ferrets j should he let loose, and an unceasing war- : fare would bn waged against the rabbit durin.gtho breeding season. It would, be pursued by a relentless enemy int i the very | heart of the rabbit, oimtry, to the bouu- ; c daries of that country upon the unsettled I I side, and into th“ mountain' fastnesses. I: f venture to say if this-plan were "followed persistently the evil would be at an end in the course of a very-few yearr. "If'this ' course be not followed, the prospect is ap- .1 palling. Then hp.w-.-W WC-to- obtain the , large annual supplies of feirets we require ? , My answer is that the -Government. should, in ever y possible way, encourage the breed- 1 ing of ferrets by the people advertising in i every newspaper hi the, country that they . /are'wilTihg-to,imrobi<se any-number/jf fer-, rets (say of a yrar-phl ), for a Certain sum per : | hea < • that Government should. liaye ' large fet ret-breril iha' establishments ip i .many parts’of the country ; ferrets should bo bfed' tiy our prisoners, and the vnma es of the Benevolent,' Asylums and Industrial Schoa s. should be»encou raved to .rear them. Fy mltlle%ant ;; df this encouragement we loose the afd of 'nr most valuab e ally. . By it we should have large supplies to draw upon produua tby apportion of pur population, who, from age, weakness, or youth, are unable W follow or obtain regu ar work; and private individuals would have markets .where hundreds of ferrets couid be purchased to turn out upon their oroperties during the summer mouths. A tax to defray the upkeep of the establishments and to provide for the pm chase of fe rets should he levied for this purpose, and those people who either buy or breed ferrets for the purpose of turning them out should be exempted. I am aware that many o' jections are tt-geil against the use of the natural enemy by pnul'ry fanciers, sportsmen, and aochmatisatio i such ties ; hut I would say to • them that desperate diseases require (lespe- ■ rate remedies ; that the natural enemy woul 1 b i turned out in the will parts of I the country away from poultry-fanciers’ henroosts; and that no son an 1 the rabbit, lo ether must eventually parahso the efforts , of lh» :c : imalisa'inn societies and dep ive tlie sports nan of his game. It is also urged against, the ferret that when the laboit is gone the ferret will be worse than the rahhit. A f rret r. quires his food every 36 hours, miss this period the animal at once becomes weakly, and with scarcity of food, disease would quickly reduce their numhers. A ravenous ani.nd like the ferret, w to keen scent, would be easily attracted by poisoned meat ; those that disease I spared coul l be earily swept away by J poison, The matter is too serious to permit the consideration of these c j otions. If I 1 a 'e exaggerated the evil by which n we are threatened, so much the better ; still 1 think 1. have at least shown sufficient ’ reason for the employment of vigorous measures ; if it be as great as I antict a'e then there surely can bo no excuse for 111 delay, hut we should recognise the danger 1,1 of our position, and by united action free , a ourselves from the impending calamity