WAR ON VERMIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 20, 25 January 1939, Page 10

WAR ON VERMIN.

Like th« intentions of the pioneers when they introduced blackberry and gorse " to remind them of Home," the plan of combating; the rabbit menace by importing stoats and weasels has gone sadly astray. THe latter are, in one direction, almost as great a menace as the rabbits themselves. It was much against the wHi-s of acclimatisation societies that th°s3 vermin were introduced in the ffrst placet because many members were Englishmen who had seen the damage done to bird life in England. Their protest, however, was of no avail, and while it must be admitted that rabbits were attacked, so were native birds, and with equal zest. Now the mortality among the birds is so serious that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Parry, has become alarmed,* and the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, at a special meeting called at the Minister's request, decided last night to begin a more vigorous campaign for the extermination of the vermin. The task, however, should not be one for acclimatisation societies alone. The protection and welfare of native bird life should be the care of everyone—whether or not any bounty is paid or received—and the destruction of ground vermin is the best way to recognise the responsibility.