Myxomatosis users face stiffer penalties

Press, 22 December 1987, Page 22

Myxomatosis users face stiffer penalties

By

OLIVER RIDDELL,

in Wellington

The Government has warned people proposing to introduce myxomatosis to control the rabbit problem in Otago that they face stiffer penalties. Myxomatosis could not be ruled out totally if all other methods of rabbit control failed, said the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle. But it would be a “weapon of last choice” and the Government would increase the penalties against its introduction by anyone else. He said the recommen-

dations of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on the matter last September would be implemented, but would be tailored to fit available resources and the practical requirements of rabbit control. Two steps would be the declassification of the rabbit as “a pest of national importance” and the removal of commercial restrictions on wild rabbit products. The Ministry of Agriculture would have the power to declare the rabbit “a pest of local importance" for the purposes of control in particular dis-

tricts, Mr Moyle said. Rabbit control would override commercial interests in those places. Giving the rabbit some commercial value in areas where it was not a serious pest would help with its continuing control. A five-member task force would be set up' to develop an integrated land management strategy in areas of moderate to high risk of rabbit infestation, reporting back to him by June 30 next year, he said. The Ministry had been directed to allocate more scientific resources to

deal specifically with rabbit management problems in the intractable areas. • The Agricultural Pest Destruction Council would be directed to put more emphasis on defining and mapping rabbit-prone areas, the need to monitor pest control programmes, and the need to rate land according to its rabbitproneness and the responsiveness of landholders to land and rabbit management. Mr Moyle said there was now an excellent blueprint for a new approach to rabbit control in the few severely affected areas that still persisted.