RABBIT PESTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 9

RABBIT PESTS

INCREASING IN CANTERBURY. DRY WEATHER AND ’DEPRESSION. After being rigorously kept in check for a good number of years through the activities of tho rabbit boards and Department of Agriculture, the rabbit pest is starting to increase slightly once more in Canterbury. The Agricultural Department, it is understood, is taking active steps in the very near future to combat the pest and reduce its numbers. The increase in the number of rabbits is a direct result of the depression and the dry season. Farmers have been unable to find the money or the labour to deal with rabbits, and the boards have been up against it. Also, the dry season has been very favourable to the prolific breeding of the animals. Had there been good rains, millions of rabbits undoubtedly would have been drowned out of their burrows in the low-lying country. “We are just starting to see the rabbits increase again in Canterbury,” said one stock and station agent who has a wide knowledge of the province. “Ii- my opinion the cause of the increase is not so much lack of labour as sheer carelessness on the part of tho farmers concerned. The pests are also increasing in Australia, and if w r e are not careful they will take a huge amount, of time and labour to control. Rabbits arc becoming more numerous all over the plains and on Banks Peninsula. The dry season, of course, is a factor in their incerasc. “It seems to me as if the rabbit fence on Banks Peninsula is not ful- : filling its purpose when the big gate at Motukarara is kept open all the time. How can we hope to deal with rabbits ; if we don ’t take the necesary mea- I sures?’ ’ Trade a .Skilled One. It has been stated that unemployed ! labour may be used on exterminating j rabbits, but it was pointed out to a ■ ! reporter that not everyone could make ! a success of rabbit-trapping or exter- ■ i urination. The rabbit trapper’s trade 'is a skilled one. From the Department of Agriculture the reporter learned that there was a slight increase in the number of rabbits in all parts of Canterbury. The dry season was very favourable to their increase and also drove them to ; the river-beds, where their number was most noticeable. In ordinary wet seasons, millions of . rabbits on the low country were drowned out of their burrows, and the pest was kept in check by Nature. Now, however, there had been no rain, and tho rabbits liked the hot weather. A flood would go a lot of good all over Canterbury. The numbers, however, could not be allowed to increase, for the rabbit had the faculty of overrunning the country if given the slightest encouragement, and farmers would be faced with another difficulty still. 1 In the dry weather it has been : found that the animals do not take 1 poison so well as in an ordinary season, and results of poisoning so far have been disappointing. However, there is usually a good poisoning in February. The rabbit boards in the province are doing their best, but, like the farmers, are up against hard times. A Serious Problem. Farmers cannot afford to pay their levies at present and they are employing little labour, so that men arc not available for dealing with rabbits. Most farmers in Canterbury arc doing their own labour nowadays and have not the time to attend to trapping or poisoning. “It is a very serious problem,” the reporter was told, “and it would be criminal to let the pest away again.” With regard to noxious weeds, the reporter was informed that the position was no worse than in previous years. Some inconvenience was caused by the fact that certain noxious weeds were classed as noxious within the boundaries of one local body and not as noxious in the adjoining county or