Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-04-06
CALIFORNIA RABBIT RoUND-UPs
In which Thousands Are Corralled ana
Killed to Save the Vineyards

| hllleQ TO Save the Vineyards.
The people out in Fresno county,
| California. are getting ready for then
| annual roundup and slaughter of jack
| rabbits, said Nathan Levy, 4 leading
| vnleyar,iiSt of Fresno, to New York
| sun man. If it wasn't for this early
| spring systematic raid on those deStruc-
| tive pests we would have scarcely a
| vineyard or an orchard left in southern
| California. On one day i'll March, gen
orally between the 10th and 10th, the
grape and small fruit growers collect
! together in their respective districts
and beat the country thoroughly to
drive the sWarming jack rabbits from
! their hiding places into immense wire
ncloSed corTals where they are at the
mercy OF their pursuers, and are then
knocked i'll the head with clubs by the
thousand. | have known $4,000 lack
rabbits to be slaughtered in this way
in a few hours. More than that. these
| rabbits are such prolific breeders that
every one killed in March or April
means that there viii be twenty-five
been if the rabbits knocked in the head
i'll the spring had been permitted to
live until the fall. These round-ups
are the only means we have ever dis
covered by which this great pest
has been kept down.
The rabbits are unusually fond of the
young shoots of the grapeyines, when
I1l, l-n hot y,
spring, and Of the tender bark of prune.
plum and other fruit trees, when the
sap Sta1tS.i have known twenty acres
Of vineyard ruined in Il single night by
the chOpping of the shoots by these ami
mails, and whole orchards Of valuable
bearing trees killed by the rabbits grid
ing them. Poison, traps, and guns
failed to kill off the rabbits fast enough
and fruit growing in that part of Cali
fOlnia would necessarily have been to
a great extent abandoned if a Fresno
county genius hadn't evolved the cor
railing idea five years ago. The rabbits
are driven into the great Wire-incloSed
pound by hundreds Of people--men
women and children closing in around
in any other direction, except the one
that leads them into the corral Differ
ent districts have different days for set
ting out on the roundup, and the
slaughter goes on through March and
April. 1t is safe to say that 100000
jack rabbits are thus killed every spring
in that part Of the state. AS at that
Of JNli g nS1,
is III excellent condition and the animal
is highly esteemed rs food 4 tWo-fold
hnefit is derived from this great yearly
slaughter.
The California jack rabbit is the big
geSt rabbit in existence, one five feet
long being not uncommon. They are
as fleet as the wind, but will sit still
on their forms, or by the roadside. IN
"a -~ almost grabbed them by
their mule-like ears, but before you have
I closed your fingers II them there will
be No rabbit there, but if you look thir-
ty or forty yards ahead you viii see
what you think is another one bumped
up in a fluffy bunch waiting for you
in the same way. But it won't be an.
other rabbit 1t will be the same one.
They are as swift and sudden as the
f1eaS that swarm on them as soon rs
the summer comes. These fieas get So
thick upon the jack rabbit and are so
ravenous that they have actually re-
duced the long-eared, four-footed jump
Ell to a skeleton by the time the fall
rains set in. If it wasn't for these resu-
lar fall rains the f1eas would be of great
servous to us in destroying the rabbit
pest, for the rabbits could not stand
out many days longer against the as
saults of the lively parasites. The wat
er kills them and washes them off the
rabbits and the latter pitch in on our
vineyards and orchards aid grain with
sharpened appetites."