DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27678, 7 June 1955, Page 13

DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS

ERADICATION HELD POSSIBLE

EXTENSION OF BOARD DISTRICTS URGED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 6. The Rabbit Destruction Council believes that the eradication of rabbits from New Zealand is not beyond the bounds of possibility, but that while infested areas remain outside rabbit districts there is no hope of this being achieved, says the annual report of the council, in protesting against the attitude of some farmers that their rights are being infringed if they are compelled to come within the area of a rabbit board.

“It is an odd form of democracy which permits a minority of farmers to harbour vermin while the great majority do their best to fight it with the help of the public purse,” states the council, which intends to continue to urge the Government to support a scheme of complete rabbit board coverage of infested areas.

The report emphasises the need and thd difficulty of maintaining vigilance in areas where the rabbit population had been brought'so low that only an occasional rabbit is seen. It says that some farmers who have never seen the numbers so. low are inclined to be lax about the few remaining, and members of the public whose appreciation of the situation is gained by observation while travelling along the main roads are likewise inclined to think twat the rabbit pest no longer exists.

About £1,000,000 is spent each year on rabbit destruction, and it is the opinion of the council that the expenditure over the last seven years has been returned manyfold in results.