15 FEBRUARY 1957, Page 29

SUPER-RABBITS

While on this subject of pests, I have been in- trigued to read of so-called super-rabbits that are bothering the farmer. There is nothing commonplace these days, and the survivors of the plague are apparently proving themselves stronger stock, which is understandable since they have been thinned out to an extent that cancels the main effect of inbreed- ing and reduces parasites that once passed easily through overpopulated burrows and warrens. The rabbit will come back in full strength, and I am not sure that anything can be done to prevent it. ft does seem, however, that the price offered for a dead super-rabbit is a little low. If the rabbit population reaches its former proportions it will cost the country many thousands of pounds a year. A worth- while bounty might delay the evil day even if it could not result in the total extermination of the nuisance. There seems no doubt that the question of the survival or destruction of the rabbit is a partisan affair with nature and six-week maturity thrown into the scales in favour of the pest and its continuance.