THE RABBIT PEST IN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2720, 2 May 1906, Page 8

THE RABBIT PEST IN AUSTRALIA.

.—A Trip to Tambua.— Will Saving the^ Bucks Save the Country? — Saturday was, a bleak, windy, shiversome day— one th»t at times would fairiy freeze the marrow ■in one's bones. Under such circumstances a' representative from this journal set out to have a look at Tambua. or what ha^s beeja jocularly termed tho '•'Buck Farm." • It would be under cxl oeptional circumstances of mental decay that one would describe the dreary track that leads to Wilcannia as a sylvan- glade. The monotonous sanveness •of the country only is broken at , regular intervals with these mileposts recently painted by - the genial scribe, Michael Honan, and, to use the expression of- that Government contractor, "they shine in the distance like beacons to lighten the way of the weary traveller.". After a stretch of 28 miles tie mail change is reached, and here the main road is! left for a diversion to the right.through 1 a portion of Springfield station! As one .passes on to the Tambua boundary * ht * le , grass, fast vanishing, is seen, through which thousands of rabbits disport as if they were jubilating over the devastation of their own creation. To the individual who ekes out his livelihood behind a dirty inkpot," to use an O'Sullivanism the sight is indeed a revelation, and enables* one. to comprehend much more clearly tie r lu «r c ? ecte °- f the labbifc P* 3*3 * in New South Wales. Without the 'slightest shadow of a doubt it is the bugbear of our pastoral life, and one that governments and individuals should spare neither pains, mon«y nor time m solving. 'We know that many look on the scourge as something that has •come to stay and pass it aside as impossible of solution. That should not be the spirit. However, to our story: When the Tambua boundary was reached a splendid field of grass met the eye, whilst on the other sme was barrenness, with the bunnies running:,along/ the fence casting longing eyes at the land or plenty within. Tambua is situated about 40 miles in a e nfev rljr dlreetion fr <»M Oobar ans contains 6*,000 acres. The country is rocky, with numerous . gullies and < ridges, which makes the eradication of the rabbit a. more difficult matter. In the course of three days the writer was driven all over the station and probably covered about 120 miles, apart from *the journey in and out, so that be »ad « fair look over the property. The paddocks are all well grasser, and in many parts the pasture can truly be described as meadow-like. The runs round the boundark showed a deplorably hungry state of affairs over the fence, whether it was the north-west, the south-west, the south, tie south-east, or on the north-east. We hope that such a condition does not apply further away from the fence, and we mention the fact to show that in practically the same country Mr Rodier, of Tambua, has so far .preserved his pasture in places where tie richness of the soil and the measure of the rainfall must necessarily have been equal, io the ordinary eye the difference $0 strongly in evidence is unmistakably due to the devastation of the rabbit. At the present time he has about 8000 sheep on the run and some* Zoo cattle, and he informed us that the number of stock is greater than ho has been carrying for years. Around, tho fences, on the outside, "labbits were to be 6een in appalling numbers, and it must be here admitted that a good number were also seen on Tambua, but in dose proximity, say about half-a-mile to the fences. Mr Rodier contends that the great majority of these come through the fences from neighbours, and in this we had ocular demonstration even so far as to see young rabbits pass through l£in and Ifin meahes. Fresh holes are daily being found by the boundary riders, and there is no mistake but those holes in and' under the fences arc- made by the incoming, rabbit 3. It was also a noticeable fact that the rabbits outside were in a very low state^, many of them being too feeble to move from the fence. In this connection a few months, or even weeks, of hot scorching weather would work great havoc amongst the pest. THE RODIER, SYSTEM. The system of extermination followed by Mr Rodier is one of his own conception, and consists of " killing the does and letting the bucks go alive." He has been following it now, for about 17 years, and after that long experience contends- that if others were to assist him the reign of the rabbit would be over. The theory is that the predomination of bucks prevents the prolific increase of the rabbit and the bucks aleo kill the young. In this he is supported by the opinion of such an eminent scientist as Dr Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A., F.R.S., London, who on 21et March, 1889, wrote to the London scientific paper Nature as follows: — "This is all strictly in accordance with what we know takes place under similar circumstances in the case of other animals, so that we can readily believe it to be likely to happen. . . . Advantage is taken of the well-known natural laws which regulate the increase of life to effect, in this instance, a' salutary decrease." In further substantiation of the theory the English newspaper Field offers the following: — "That this result wouid . happen is m accordance with what is known to take place in coursing districts , where there is a superabundance of males left at the end of the coursing- season, when it is found absolutely necessary to destroy the excess to ensure a supply during tho coming seaeon." Mr Rodier puts his plan in operation by sinking pit traps along his boundaries and setting the Tambua traps in the burrows. The former traps will hold several hundreds, whilst the Tambua traps have caught uo. to 1L lie ig a firm believer

in the pit traps v and recommends all who go *in for rabbit ' destruction' to use them. On the north-eastern side we saw- three "oftbese traps, on the outside of the fence, and in the lot there Jiusi have been over 1000 rabbits. On the bottom many had been tramped to death by the stronger ones running over them. These were located, within a distance* of three quarters of a. mile," and had all been emptied a day or so previously. The bucks are all released after' being ear-marked, whilst the does are killed. At the- present time Mt Rodier has four men on rabbiting, and is busily engaged erecting more pit traps. For the last 15 £ years the average cost of. rabbit destruction or extermination on Tambua' has been £121 8s lOd, and for the year 1904 the ccst was £100 15s 2d, so that when all things are considered the cost is not- an exorbitant one. . On Tambua, where pioeess ia more vigorously carried out, there is an abundance of grass, whilst on Mulga Downs, which also belongs to Mr , Rodier,- there is very good feed all over the run. Quite recently the local P.P. Board pave the system a rebuff, but perhaps if I the members had seen the- run ?s the writer did_ they would have hesitated in their action. - I IS THE SOHI4ME EFFECTIVE-? [ That is the part which must agitate the : mind of the student of^ the system and the person who" wishc6 : ' to benefit, by the- experience .oi others. For a- long. .time, ,the, matter has been looked upon «s a joke by many who thought. .the propagandist of it was a little too enthusiastic. He is enthusiastic, und if others in the State took as- much interest in- -the solution of ,the^ eradication or extermination of the-i pest- -ve venture to say that much more progress V/-culd have been made. But' to the per? son "who goes . on tp that station with an unbiassed mind, we make bold"- to state that he .must instantly realise that some agency 'i& at work to steady at an'yrate, the inroads "of the pest, if not to entirely "obliterate ' it.. Nobody ~ would care, two straws for bunny if he left the grass alone and did not injure the country to the detri; menfc«oi the sheep thereon, and all means to cope with the rabbit have for their object the 1 pv^ervation of grass.. , Now, whether Mr Rodier is" right or wrong, he uses his own scheme as outlined above, and' it has ..secured for him the", grass so, .much desired. - A visit to the station will satisfy, the* most sceptical, and even if one cannot • ir-ppcefc for themselves there are .splendid views of the run taken by Mr Leane'y' which portray very truly th^ condition of affairs both along the fences and in the run. In view of the result, whether the -ordinary mind can grasp the scientific operation claimed for the theory or not. it does seem ! fc-U6ible that a. scheme which secures tre ■ muoh-desiv^d ■ grass should be at least j .worthy of a trial as ajrainafc processes which | up to the present .have- done little or* nothing to preserve feed or exterminate the j rabbit. ■ At anyrate thai is the way it 'strikes the writer, -and 'if the publication^ of this meagre description benefits in any way >the ,obiect for which -it was- intended, then.' we will be satisfied that our, labours have not been in vain. — Cobar; Herald, Novem- i bet 4. • • .