A Debit Turned to Profit

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 29

A Debit Turned to Profit

MONEY FROM RABBITS

Prospects of Fur Industry

AT one time ail true New Zealand landowners looked upon the rabbit as a pest. To-day, to a certain extent, this view is undergoing a change. Last year those engaged in rabbit trapping in the Dominion took over £1,000.000 from the industry. Developments over the past three months promise even greater prospects for the future.

Introduced to this country by sentimentalists who wished to add a further touch of the Homeland to the Dominion, tbe rabbit lost no time in propagating, and soon made serious inroads into pastures required for aheep and cattle. Efforts to exterminate the pest proved futile, and it was only by the formation of rabbit boards that the little brown animal was prevented from spreading to all parts of the Dominion. Wholesale poisonings were first taied and, when carried out in a eoneerted manner, began to take effect. When only the skin was required, this was quite satisfactory. At the moment, however, there is also a market for the carcase, and this, to be sold, must be caught alive. Again, another factor had to be taken into consideration —wholesale killin gs were depriving many rabbiters of their source of income, and it came to bs seen that, unless they worked on a conservative basis, having in view always future supplies, they would soon be out of a job. Thus, in many districts where the trappers secure the same block of oountry year after year, It came to be considered good policy to trap only a certain percentage, leaving enough to keep up the numbers in the following year. In the South, where, on account, of the colder winters, the fur is of better quality, and consequently has a higher value, this policy Is more strictly adhered to than in the North. In New Zealand, at the moment, the rabbit trapper has two main sources of revenue. There is a steady market for the carcase among the retail shops, and the freezing of the carcase for the overseas trade is also carried on. chiefly in the South. It is from the skins, however, that the bigges profit is made. During the season 1926-27, skins to the value of £810,420 left these shores for overseas markets. In addition, there are one or two minor markets. A hat factory in the South, for instance, manufactures its wares from the rabbft-skin. Thus, It can be seen that, despite thp efforts of the pastoralist to exterminate the rabbit, it is bringing in a certain revenue to the country, and iu some of the poorer districts it is a moot point as to whether that revenue J* not greater than that which would

be derived from sheep and cattle when the labour and capital required is taken into consideration. It is this pont that is causing certain interests to seriously consider the prospects of rabbit farming, much on the lines that it is carried on in Newfoundland and British Columbia. There, big money is made from fur farming, principally, of course, from the more valued animals, such as the silver fox, etc. During thfe past three months several companies have been formed in

New Zealand, having as their object the fostering of the rabbit industry. Some intend to import the better quality rabbits with the view of selling them to breeders in this country. Other companies, again, have been formed solely with the object of developing the Angora wool rabbit industry. Some ■ fimes aim at the establishment of small farms where the rabbits could he reared and heb in hutches. Other schemes have wider aims, advocating the freeing of high-quality fur-producing bucks on the ranges, and thus improving the quality of the New Zealand-reared animal. Whatever the outcome of the various schemes will be, the position is certainly interesting. Money has been made out of rabbits in the past; considerably more may be made in the future.