CHAPTER lY. 

 METHODS OF DESTRUCTION. 



The destructiou of rabbits has been so carefully investigated in 

 Australia that it may be well to refer briefly to the eouclusious arrived 

 at by the Royal Commission wliich was appointed to inquire into 

 schemes for the extermination of rabbits in Australasia. In a procla- 

 mation dated August 31, 1SS7, the government of New South Wales 

 offered a reward of £25,000 for the effectual extermination of rabbits 

 by any method or i)rocess not i)reviously known in tlie colony, but three 

 years later a report was made that "after prolonged and careful study 

 of all the i)roi)Osals which have been submitted, tlie commission iinds 

 that no scheme has been ]»roi)(Minded for the extermination of rabbits 

 which complies with tlic terms of the i)roc1amation.''' 



INOCULATION. 



The <juestion of introducing infectious diseases was also carefully 

 considered, but while the commission "found no evidence to warrant 

 the belief that any known disease can be so emjdoyed as to exterminate 

 rabbits," it suggested tliat many diseases would juobably be found 

 useful auxiliaries in keeping the rabbit ]ilague within manageable 

 proportions.- 



Tlu' success of disease as a means of destruction depends on two 

 conditions: (1) It must be fatal to the rabbits: (!') it must not injure 

 man or domesticated animals. The Australian exi)eriments were mainly 

 conline<l to the effects of (1) chicken cholera, (2) the so-called 'Tin 

 tinallogy disease,' (.i) diseases caused by the bladder worm {Cnnu- 

 rus), and (4) by rabbit scab {Sarcoptca runiculi). It was found that 

 while the rabbits were easily killed by i»utting micro])es of c]ii(;ken 

 cholera in their food the disease did not spread freely from infected to 

 healthy animals. The Tintinallogy disease takes its name from a sta- 

 tion on the east bank of the Darling River near Meniiidie, New South 

 Wales, wliere a ])ecuHar aiTection was noticed among the rabbits in 

 September 1887. The prmcipal symptoms are erection of the fur, begiu- 



'New South Wales Roy. Comiii. Imiairy Externa. Rabbits in Australasia, Final 

 Report, 1890, p. 11. 

 «L. c, p. 3. 

 36 



