DISEASE AMONG RABBITS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4604, 2 October 1934, Page 2

DISEASE AMONG RABBITS

LARGE AREAS CLEARED OF PEST. The presence in Marlborough and some other parts of the South Island of a disease which had killed off the rabbits from large areas was reported to a meeting of the Canterbury Sheep Owners' Union last week (states the Christchurch Press). It ■was sai'd that in some areas up to 12,000 acres had been cleared by the disease, and that in most places where the disease had occurred rabbits had not yet reappeared. The secretary reported that the information was contained in a number of letters which had come from various parts of the South Island. The disease had so far not been identified. A letter was received from the Director-General of Agriculture, Dr.

C. J. Reakes, stating that the Department was closely in touch with the investigations being carried out in Australia on the innoculation of rabbits with a lethal virus. It had been arranged that immediately anything

useful was discovered the Department would be advised.

The Commissioner of Unemployment advised that it had been decided to re-open No. 11 scheme for the extermination of rabbits in areas where an inspector of the Department of Agriculture thought that this was necessary. Members mentioned that it was necessary in some cases for the work to be continued on Crown lands in the spring and summer to derive the full benefit from the operations of the winter.