ATTEMPT TO BELITTLE WORK OF RABBIT BOARDS ALLEGED

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29994, 1 December 1962, Page 13

ATTEMPT TO BELITTLE WORK OF RABBIT BOARDS ALLEGED

“I think that I speak for this executive when I say that we are most disturbed to find that the efforts of rabbit boards in general are being belittled by what we consider be misleading press reports emanating from Otago,’* said the president at toe South Island Rabbit Boards* Association, Mr C. C. S. Parker, of Burkes Paes, speaking at a meeting of the executive of the association in Christchurch yesterday. He was referring to reports from Otago that there had been, a resurgence of rabbits in part of the area of the Molyneux Rabbit Board in Central Otago and that there were fears that the country might return to its rabbitinfested state of a few years ago. Mr Parker suggested that reports from Otago were deliberate attempts to impede the progress of rabbit boards and the Rabbit Destruction

Council in their efforts to secure complete coverage of remaining rabbit - infested country in New Zealand.

The chairman of toe Central Otago Rabbit Boards' Council, Mr W. J. Becker, told toe executive that in the last few months the chairmen of most board* in Central Otago had reported that their country was in good order as far as rabbit* were concerned. Even in the trouble country in the Molyneux board district the country was not eaten out by rabbits and the livestock instructor of the Department of Agriculture in Alexandra had told him that there was no great quantity of rabbits visible on it—they had to be looked for. Mr Becker said it was felt that toe presence in toe area of unauthorised shooters and hunters was a factor contributing to the rabbits not taking poison. These hunters travelled up Lake Roxburgh and shot from the lakeside. Too Often

It had come to the notice of the executive that part of the area had been poisoned five times in the last three and a half years, said Mr Parker. In the opinion of experienced board members and rabbiters to poison

as often as this without sufficient spelling was the quickest way to make rabbits poison-shy.

“We are not attempting to deny that there is a problem on this country,” said Mr Parker, “but it is a confined one and it will be tackled as energetically as possible immediately.” The problem area was no more than about 10,000 acres of the 93,000 acres in the board area. Mr Parker said that It seemed that the reports from Otago on this problem appeared to be deliberately timed to hinder toe efforts of boards in general and the Rabbit Destruction Council in particular to embrace in boards the remaining rabbitinfested areas of New Zealand before some farmers, many politicians, and the younger generation had forgotten what rabbits could do to the country. "It should nevertheless be a warning to us that in spite of the wonderful success achieved by boards in the fight against the rabbit, by mismanagement or neglect we could quite easily slip back to where we started from.” Mr Parker said the Rabbit Destruction Council would make an inspection of the area on Wednesday.