AUSTRALIA'S RABBIT PEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18532, 17 October 1923, Page 13

AUSTRALIA'S RABBIT PEST.

AN ALARMING PROBLEM.

' [yBOM our' OWN correspondent.] '■' SYDNEY. Sept. 26 That the rabbit is the worst pest in Australia is beyond question. On one estate ■ in'' New .South Wales, five men, trapping and poisoning, and one man working 20 • dogs, have been getting an average of. 700 rabbits a night, according to one of the rabbit inspectors who complains that landholders arc not doing enough to try fo cope with the problem. At another centre there are reported to be tens of thousands of rabbits and millions of them in another part of the country. On one estate alone, more than 25,000 rabbits have been killed since last January, and it is estimated that there are sfill 25,000 there. The estate has spent £600 in four months in trying to decimate the ranks of the pest, but tho feeling is growing that- it is all a case of Dame Partington, who, finding £he sea sweeping up to ..her door, tried, but in vain, to sweep it back. Wire netting, it is felt, is the. only thing effectually to stem the oncoming tide of rabbits. Landholders generally, do not appear to Be enamoured of the 1 poisoning work. Unfortunately the rabbit is a believer in large families. Just now the climatic conditions, and the shooting grass make the present season an ideal ' i' one for breeding, and a large increase is ' i anticipated. '-■.: ,'-- '- '!-"-- : '---. ;