A writer in Saturday's Times gives some very curious facts
as to the gigantic proportions assumed by the rabbit war in Australia. A few years ago New South Wales paid for the skins of twenty-seven million rabbits in twelve months, yet it was found that there were more rabbits in the Colony at the end of the year than at the beginning. Since 1883 New South Wales has spent 21,000,000 on the war, and erected fifteen thousand miles of wire-netting. Yet, in spite of this, seven million acres of land have been abandoned, largely owing to the rabbits. The other Australian Colonies are in as bad a position ; and in Queensland there are places where, though the ground is white with the bones of rabbits, the live rabbits ran riot. Though the grass has been burnt up, the rabbits flourish, and are "as fat as seals," for the wretches have learned to live and thrive on bark and the twigs of bushes. They have even developed the power of getting up trees in search of food, and will go up as high as 8 ft., using their teeth to climb with. All sorts of methods have been tried to reduce them, including the domestic cat—which we are glad to see did much service—but these are mere palliatives. On the whole, wire-netting seems the only effective remedy ; but this is by no means a perfect one. How can you ensure no breaks in a fence four hundred miles long ? It is to be feared that the hope of extermination must be abandoned. The rabbit in Australia has come to stay.
Previous page
