What do you do when a national pest is also an increasingly favourite pet in New Zealand homes?
I speak here of the common rabbit, loved and adored by some, yet hated and vilified by others. This week marks the anniversary of the declaration of rabbits as pests and a very revealing aspect of our past.
History tells us various breeds of rabbit were introduced to New Zealand during the 1830s, although most of these were too weak to survive the conditions. That was until some genius introduced the common European rabbit in 1848, which was left to run amok in the hinterland of Southland and Otago in an effort to keep the grass plains down to a reasonable level for sheep. As history also shows us, it was a mistake that still plagues New Zealand to this very day.
But despite the issues that faced Otago and Southland in those pioneering days, farmers continued releasing rabbits throughout the South Island where they became firmly established in the likes of Canterbury, Marlborough and Nelson. Thousands of acres were abandoned to the booming rabbit population and although the density of bush in the North Island slowed their progress, it was only a matter of time before the Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay and Wairoa were also suffering similar fates.
To combat the burgeoning rabbit population, stoats, weasels, ferrets and cats were introduced in the 1880s, although the net effect was the devastation of indigenous bird populations while the rabbits continued to roam free and virtually uninhibited.
