RABBIT "FARMING"

Shannon News, 19 April 1927, Page 4

RABBIT "FARMING"

TEST NOT DESTROYED. OFFENDER HEAVILY FINED. POSITION IN SOUTH ISLAND. It would seem a number of farmers in the South Island find it more profitable to farm rabbits than to graze sheep. During the hearing of a case in the Magistrate's Court at Oamaru to-day, in which the owner of a fairly large property at Hakataramea was charged with failing to destroy rabbits, it transpired that nothing had been done for months to cope with the pest. Counsel for the Agricultural Department stated that there was a suspicion that farmers allowed the rabbits to increase during the summer months and made an extensive trapping campaign in the winter, when rabbitskins were at a high price. The system was one of rabbit-farming pure and simple. The magistrate, in imposing a fine of £35 and costs, stated that the inspectors should see that those who failed to take steps to destroy the rabbits in the proper season were brought before the Court. Two other cases were adjourned to give the owners an opportunity- of satisfying the inspector that they were sincere in their desire to eradicate the pest.