ARMY OF RABBITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23381, 24 June 1939, Page 14

ARMY OF RABBITS

FIVE TO EVERY SHEEP CENTRAL OTAGO MENACE SITUATION OUT OF HAND THE NEED FOR EXTERMINATION [by telegram*—own CORRESPONDENT] DUNEDIN, Friday Probably at no time during the past 40 years in Central Otago has more concern at the spread of the rabbit post been displayed by farmers and runholders than at present. The situation has got out of hand and the season just closed, with its excellent breeding conditions for the pest, and the decline in rabbiting due to low prices for skins, has emphasised the fact that control of the nuisance is no longer a matter for individuals and that the whole method of destruction will have to be overhauled if the sheep flocks of Central Otago are not eventually to be driven off the land. " A Drop in the Bucket " At the last Dunedin rabbit-skin sale more than 60 tons, or well over a million skins, were offered at auction, and it is estimated that no fewer than 13,000,000 skins were sold in Dunedin alone in 19:38. Those in touch with the position, however, declare that killings thus represented are no more than a drop in the bucket. Central Otago's stock of rabbits is increasing rapidly, and, while some experts estimate that there are five rabbits to every sheep at the present time, others state emphatically that the proportion is seven to one; in fact, it is generally agreed that the elimination of the rabbit would increase the carrying capacity ol the land by 2,000,000 sheep. The System ol Control It has become apparent that the system of control must be radically altered. This could bo accomplished if the Government acted as receiver of all skins, paying rabbiters a fixed price at all seasons of the year and thus encouraging continuous killing. It is suggested that the extermination of the rabbit offers an admirable opportunity for the employment of hundreds of men in Central Otago on useful and productive work, which in the long run must be of the greatest advantage to the Crown in its capacity of landlord of thousands of acres of counI try in this district.