RABBITS IN COUNTY RESERVES

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26886, 12 November 1952, Page 3

RABBITS IN COUNTY RESERVES

COMPLAINT TO PAPARUA COUNCIL Reserves and plantations provided cover for rabbits to breed, and in some cases the rabbits were troublesome, said Mr H. O. Judd, the leader of a deputation of five members of the Darfield Rabbit Control Committee which waited on the Paparua County Council at its meeting on Monday evening. The committee represented farmers and ratepayers in the north-western part of the Paparua county and in parts of the Malvern and Selwyn counties, said Mr Judd. They sought friendly co-operation between farmers and the local bodies concerned, but this cooperation had not existed up to the present time. The committee was convinced that the rabbits could be controlled by farmers themselves. Rabbits were not dangerous in open areas. The chairman of the council (Mr W. F. McArthur) assured the deputation that the council was clearing up its own reserves as fast as possible, and was urging farmers to do the same. He said the removal of gorse and the use of poison was necessary. The council was ready to co-operate in any way it could.

A suggestion that leases of council reserves should contain a provision chat rabbits must be controlled was made by a member of the delegation. The chairman replied that this had not been thought of, but it could be done. The matter would be kept in mind. “Continuous publicity is what is wanted,” the chairman said. It had been successful in dealing with the fire menace, and the rabbit menace should be treated similarly. Members of the deputation said that rabbits which came out of council reserves into farmers’ paddocks then became the responsibility of the farmers, who were in an awkward position when the rabbits were caught on their property.