BOOM IN RABBITS

Evening Star, Issue 25782, 3 May 1946, Page 6

BOOM IN RABBITS

DEMAND FOR FLESH AND SKINS POSITION, IN AUSTRALIA (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 30. The disappearance of all beef and mutto'n from Sydney retail shops draws attention to the fact that something which was for many years a pest has now become a blessing. Rabbit carcasses are appearing in' large quantities in every provision merchant’s window. For the great bulk of the Sydney popu-lation-rabbits will provide the only fresh meat obtainable until the strike is settled and the slaughterhouses are working again. A-survey of the provisions available indicated that, though at present poultry supplies are adequate, they are not inexhaustible, and the price' is generally too high to make fowls a staple item of diet. The fish supply in Sydney has never met the requirements. Many types of fish sold would not be considered edible in New Zealand, and New Zealand blue cod. and flounders always fetch the highest prices. Since the strike began mpst fishmongers seem to finish their day’s work early in the morning.

The only apparently inexhaustible source of fresh food at the moment is the rabbit. During past years, when the value of the skins and the bounties paid were the chief' attraction to rabhiters, carcasses proved a drug on the market. Enterprising firms took over canning and distribution, and when meat ratipning was introduced quantities, of frozen rabbit carcasses were available for home consumption. In the first six months of last year carcasses valued at £71,000 went overseas. For some time it has been possible to luiv quick-frozen rabbit carcasses prepared by the, latest American method and sealed in airtight containers at a cost of under 2s. Canned cooked rabbit is also becoming popular, particu-

larly with some restaurants, whose chicken salad is open to suspicion. SOARING VALUES FOR SKINS. The sudden advance in importance of the rabbit has come about chieflly because of the striking wai-time rise in the value of skins. In 1939 about 5.500,0001 bof skins, valued at £581,000, was exported. Last year the export figure reached the record total of 12.500,0001 b. .valued at £4,631,628. It will be noted that, though the quantity exported was scarcely more than doubled, the value increased eight-fold The biggest buyer is the United States. Local consumption accounts for nearly 1,000.000,000 rabbits annually the skins of which keep 10 Australian fur felt hat factories in production. Under these conditions, with skins bringing 7s a pound and carcasses 2s 2d a pair, rabbiting is booming. The More freezing works reports that in four months it received 88.872 rabbits, sent in by 43 trappers in the locality which means that the average earnings of these rabbiters for that period was £220. The Gravesend freezing works handled 155,240. carcasses, sent in by 40 trappers, who netted an average of £3BB for four and a-half months. Two Hohoolboys made more than £BO in three weeks, and two men £l7 in one night! After years of feeding on stock pasture and causing erosion by burrowing in river banks, the rabbit Ims now inflicted on the stock owner the unkindest cut of all. Big pastoral companies, which normally at this time of the year have long lines of shearers waiting to start work, have practically empty books. The shearers are out rabbiting, and there are now no manpower controls to direct them back to the sheds.