THE DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1263, 14 May 1896, Page 4

THE DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS.

Mr Walter Gibson, of Dromana, Victoria, writes that it seems most singular that uo small and feeble a creature as the rabbit should have defied the persistent efibrls of man for so many years in Australia. In one year the colony of New South Wales paid the bonus established in that colony for twenty live million scalps, yet no very apparent impression was made upon the numbers of the little creatures. Many millions of pounds have now been spent in Australia, and yet, if we are going to win in the conflict, our success is yet prospective ; wo have as yet had no great triumph to boast of. The rabbit survives and even multiplies by reason of its immensely prolific nature. A couple left alone for two years in a paddock will slock it with their descendants to the number of several thousands, and if feed would only hold out, in five years they would exceed a million. The most effectual thing to keep them down is the want of feed, but before that is operative they have stripped the country. They have taken out all the most nutritious grasses, then the sheep and cattle are left to hold their own as best they may with the coarse and less digestible growths. No wonder the specifics for destruction of rabbits are numbered by tho score. Poisoned wheat and pollard are very fatal to them, but it happens in multitudes of cases that a rabbit eats a little, is sick, but is not killed, and then avoids the feast that is laid for him. This suggests what I have always found to be wise, that the vehicle of the poison should be frequently changed ; jam and vegetables, when poisoned, will kill off those who escaped the previous attempts with wheat or oats. Traps also do a great deal to thin the rabbits, but when once one has been scared by a trap which went off without catching him, he is most uncommonly wary for the future. He bocomes extremely hard to take in that way. Moreover, traps are but little use for young rabbits, whose weight is generally insufficient to press down tho plates ; and yet it is young rabbits we want to secure before they have had time to multiply. Suffocation by bisulphide of carbon or sulphur fumes is very efficient where the burrows are not too large, but my experience has always been that where the ground is light and sandy there are too many oponings made in the ground to give this system a great chance of success. Often the rabbits block a passage with their bodies, keeping their heads outward lo the fresh air, and bo survive, while others poke their heads well into the porous sand and seem in thnt way to secure themselves from i.i in" suffocated.

Ad those ways, however, invariably leave it few rabbits which at once begin to breed and soon stock tho place J again In my experience there is nothing like "lii,ldling up the work wiili ferrets, d-.gs, and nets. After long reiyh g en other methods and finding that the work of one year had to be "repealed the next, I tried the ferret Kvstem, and for a long time failed to make it a success, but eventually I came to understand how itjj should be worked, and by its aid I- ; reached the gaol, of complete extermination.

He who wishes to make trial of the system must procure a few good ferrets ; they should be young, and ought to be kept in a good kennel, quite watertight, and placed iu a cool shed,

The floor of it should ho scraped clean ! and dusted with sawdust every morn- , ing. The ferrets ought to be washed j every week with soft fioap and varm water. It is wise to keep the males and females apart. They should be fed j twice a day on oatmeal porridge or i bread and new milk. For animal food they should once a day have a bit of the hind leg of a rabbit with the fur taken off quite clean. If the ferret has been accustomed from birth never to bite through fur to get at flesh, it will not stay to eat the rabbits in the burrows, a thing that is generally a great obstacle to their use. If two male ferrets disagree, it is wise to get rid of one, for one or other of them will surely bo killed. It is impossible to spoil ferrets by petting them. They should bo very gentle when handled and as playful as kittens. Let no ferret eat the entrails of rabbits; they are very liable if they do to die oil' by reason of hydatids or tape worm. The liver of the rabbit in especial is often infested with the embryo of taenia serrata, and ferrets, as well *s dogs, which eat there livers raw are certain before long to sutler from it.

The following is a brief description of the manner in which the ferret system should be worked :—Reduce by poison, traps, and fumigating, the number of rabbits on the land. Vigorous exertion will generally get rid of the great majority, but in spite of all that can thus be done, a small fraction is sure to be left from which the ground will be restocked. To secure a final success provide two men will) eight or ten ferrets, two fox terriers, 11*11 two greyhounds, and two collies. Dun the dogs over the land for a couple of hours before starting with the ferrets. Then commence at one side of the land, sending the ferrets down into every burrow that is seen, after having placed the nets in front of all the oth-r openings. Men and dogs shoull keep well away from these openings, the dogs, however, being kept in readiness for any rabbits that escape the nets or come out by openings not netted. If a ferret fails to come out of the burrow he is put in, it is best not to waste time waiting for him or trying to get him out. Have a small box-trap ready for the purpose with a sliding door; bait it with a little bit of clean rabbit, and, after digging in all the other openings, leave this trap in front of the one left clear. The ferret will be in the trap safely enough next morning. When the ferrets first come out of the burrows give them half a minute or so for their eyes to become accua tomed to the light before lifting them. If they are too blind to recognue you they become wild, and their excitement is disadvantageous to their future work.

It is always well to make a thoroughly pei feet job of this operation at once, and it may belong before it is required again. Ten days alter having gone across the ground take the ferrets and dogs over it once more. Whenever a borrow is seen to have been re-opened send in the ferrets again, and take pains to sec that as you puss over the ground not a rabbit is let; behind you. There are plenty of difficulties in the way, but they must be grapple I, and when it is seen that either man or rabbits must go, one bold determined effort ought to be made to ensure that it is the latter which shall depart. Now, in general, it is too often the case that men pott'-r along from year to year, always killing but never exterminating ; and if they come to count the cost in the end they will find that tl.ey have spent mere money than if they had res.lived on one big effort and ho been done with it.