Country Life
BY IAN NIALL THE Ministry says it will prosecute anyone found intro- ducing a new stock of rabbits to land cleared of them by myxomatosis. I wonder if this means very much. It can hardly be in the national interest to begin the rabbit story over again and return to talk of losses of £50 million a year, but the country is big enough for rabbits to be reintro- duced without fear of detection. It is, I think, safe to say that the rabbit will come back in full strength sooner or later. How quickly it reappears depends on the sense of responsi- bility of farmers, landowners and other country folk, but there are individuals who would have a bit of rabbit-shooting at any price, and other people ready to begin dealing in home- bred rabbits once the public has forgotten the plague. The rabbit was a major parasite until a year or so ago, and, come to think of it, did we not recite a rhyme as children about bigger fleas having lesser fleas upon their backs to bite 'em? The balance of Nature may mean rabbits, tabbit-catchers and rabbit-dealers, even if it also means a £50 million bill.
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