Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-05-27
THE RABBIT SCOURGE

IaE hADDlI NCOURdE
HOW THE AUSTRALIANS TRY TO DEAL
WITH THIS PEST.
Fences Made of Netting Over 400 Miles
Long Enormous Cost of Fighting the
Representations Have Been Slaughtered
but Numbers Continue to Increase.
Then the New South Wales govern
ment, it will be remembered, offered a
reward Of e25, 900 to any person or per-
sons who could suggest a really efficient
method of getting rid Of the pest; but,
although this liberal offer led to the re-
ceipt of no fewer than 1900 schemes
from all parts Of the world, none Of
them was regarded as satisfactory, and
the offer was withdrawn. The domestic
cat was introduced, and in certain linn
tied areas did much service. Poisons
were largely resorted to, and ferrets,
stoats and weasels have been imported
in thousands into some Of the colonies
and have increased fast. But hitherto
the rabbits, owing to the rate at which
they multiply, have managed not only
to hold their own, but to constantly
spread over new ground, carrying de-
struction with them wherever they go.
In South Australia, for instance, the
direct loss from the rabbits has been put
down at e250, 900 per annum and the
indirect loss at similar amount. In
Victoria the active operations for the
destruction of rabbits on crown lands
have been carried on by the government
since 1880, and from that date to the
middle of 1894 total of nearly $780,
900 had been spent by the state on that
object. AS for the money spent by pri-
vate individuals for the same purpose,
that is almost incalculable, but it may
be mentioned that on one estate alone
upward of e15, 900 have been expended
by the owner, with the view Of clearing
his land of the pest.
In the II years ending with 1898
nearly 6s, 600, 900 rabbit skins, valued
at e402, 900, were exported from Vic
toria, without counting the large guam
titles used by hat manufacturers in the
colony, one establishment alone using
374, 400 every year. Yet, notwithstand-
ing all this slaughter, the present in
tested area throughout the colony is es-
timated by the chief inspector at no less
than 81, 750, 900 acres. Adding to the
direct expenditure the Expectations Of
the grazing values Of the land, the loss
to the colonies concerned amount to
millions of pounds sterling.
| The final outcome of royal commits
| sions, Of international conferences and
of the testing of every practical method
Of determination, is that the most effec-
tual method Of dealing with the evil is
found to be the construction Of rabbit
proof netting, by means of which the
animals can be kept from areas not yet
infested, can be.shut off from food sup
plies, and can be more effectually dealt
with locally.
The length of some of these fences is
enormous. There is one starting at Bar
ringun, on the Queensland border, and
following the main trunk line from
Bourke to Corowa, a distance Of 407
miles, and there is another along the
entire western boundary of New South
Wales, distance of 346 miles. The
Queensland government, too, has erect
ed a similar fence along a considerable
portion Of the northern boundary of
New South Wales, but the surveyor
general Of Queensland, in the report al
ready referred to, says that 'the rabbits
must have come through the fence in
mobs and droves of innumerable multi
tudes at some time, - and thus have es-
tablished themselves in Queensland as
well.
This, Of course, is the weak point in
regard to fences, which are liable to
break down in places, more especially
in times of food and where they cross
over creeks, while the keeping of con-
slant supervision over the fences, so that
immediate repairs can be done where
openings appear, is quite impracticable
where the distances are SO great. In
many instances countless thousands of
rabbits have been seen on one side Of a
fence dead or dying of starvation after
eating all the available food supplies
and leaping up at the fence in their at
tempts to surmount it. One can imagine
how they would rush through in the
event of any opening appearing and
how single break in the fence might
be the doom of a country not previous
| ~ infested.
There have been many projects for the
commercial utilization of the animals by
sending them over here in order to con-
tribute both to our food supplies and to
the cost Of their own destruction, but
hitherto the enterprise has not been very
profitable, while some of the most COM
| potent authorities in the colonies think
that if it should be followed up the re-
suit may be to conserve the rabbits in
stead of getting rid Of them. On the
other hand. too, the shipping of some
hundreds Of thousands, or even mil
lion or two, Of rabbits to Great Britain
every year would not be likely to make
| any appreciable difference on the num-
bers left behind to constitute what it is
feared must be regarded as pest now al
together ineradicable. London Times.
His Liberal Reward.
The chamniOn mean mar, nm <ox,,,,