RABBITS GETTING OUT OF HAND

Southland Times, Issue 24650, 23 January 1942, Page 6

RABBITS GETTING OUT OF HAND

CONCERN EXPRESSED A well-known Southland farmer struck a despondent ’ note yesterday when referring to the damage being done by rabbits in some districts in Southland. This farmer has a considerable acreage of land on the coast, and he said that through various causes, of which lack of labour was one of the chief, the rabbit was getting out of hand in his district and this was also the position in other localities. The farmer, however, paid a tribute to the work being done by rabbit boards, and said that where they were functioning they were bringing about the destruction of rabbits in large numbers. The men engaged by these boards worked on a systematic plan, and by the use of poison laid on the ground and of gas pumped into warrens were making some very satisfactory clearances.

One would have • thought, said the farmer, that with the very high prices ruling for skins last year a considerable reduction would have been made in the total numbers, but he gave it as his opinion that the numbers were larger than ever. The outlook for the future should cause concern to the farming industry in both Southland and Otago, particularly as it was unlikely that the rabbitskin market would be as firm in the coming season as it was last season, and therefore there would not be the same amount of trapping. One point which the farmer said should be stressed related to the supply of strychnine. He said that the stock department at Invercargill could not at present supply the demand for this poison.