Myxomatosis unacceptable to board

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 3

Myxomatosis unacceptable to board

Myxomatosis is an unacceptable method of rabbit control, the North Canterbury Catchment Board has decided. Board members agreed yesterday that there was a need for strict control of rabbits, because of the damage they did to plants and water resources, and any method that could keep their numbers down would normally be commended. “But the board believes that the use of myxomatosis is unacceptable and there should be further investigation into other possible methods of rabbit control,” the board said. There was considerable discussion about the use of myxomatosis at the board’s last monthly meeting, but a decision on whether the board condoned its use was deferred until this month’s meeting, because not all board members were present then.

Last month, before the board meeting, a board committee had voted in favour of using myxomatosis, but the subsequent meeting had overturned this vote, by a narrow margin, when not all members were present. Yesterday, eight members voted not to accept myxomatosis and five were in favour of the method. The board had been asked to comment on the proposal to introduce myxomatosis into New Zealand in a letter from the Agricultural Pest Destruction Council. Mr M. J. O. Dixon, the board’s chairman, said that he had felt differently about myxomatosis since reading an artcle in “The Press” of

April 26. The article discussed a report by Dr Graeme White, of the resource management centre at Lincoln College, which said that myxomatosis was an uneconomic and not particularly effective method of controlling the rabbit population. Myxomatosis, introduced in a virus form, took four or five years to become established, and its success was short-lived. Rabbit numbers would rebound to moderate densities, Dr White said. Mr Dixon told board members that the article “cast severe question marks” about whether myxomatosis was the right thing. Mr D. D. Webster said that rabbits had tenacity for life, and that “the full arsenal of weapons against them, of which myxomatosis is one,” must be used. “When we think of the dreadful lesions on rabbits caused by myxomatosis, we should remember that they are very mild compared with the massive internal lesions caused by conventional poison,” he said. A move by Dr B. P. J. Molloy to appoint a water resources expert to the board’s water resources committee was defeated. Dr Molloy said there was an obvious need for someone with expertise in water matters to be on the committee, but several other board members spoke against his proposal, saying it was an insult to sitting board members.