Funny Bunny
I took this photo as I headed home from shooting sweet baby things with big ears a couple of days ago.
I was amazed rabbit stayed still for me to take the shot – the very first bunny photo I think I have ever taken.
Initially I thought it would be a funny intro into my ‘long eared cute things’ post yesterday. But the more I looked at this shot, the more I realised I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Because rabbits (in this part of the world at least) just ain’t funny.
I mean, I do get how cute-looking they are, I really do. And I would never deliberately harm one myself. But when these creatures (and their hare cousins) reach plague proportions, well, it’s pretty hideous. It’s a conundrum I often find myself in – the emotional touchy-feely side of me can quite understand how people would want one of these as a pet. (Heck some people have rats, which is something I will NEVER understand *shudder*). But the rational, practical side of me argues strongly against the uglier side of the rabbit presence in Oz. And it wins.
The bunny population out here seems to ebb and flow – sometimes they seem to be everywhere, the ground almost seems to move there are so many. Other times, you don’t see as many. Rabbits don’t tend to be the target of shooters (like dingoes or roos are when THEY reach plague proportions) although I do recall eating rabbit while growing up – Mum did a mean slow-cooked then crumbed and deep-fried dish that was as good as KFC!
I did a quick bit of research this morning (a great overview here and more detailed info here) and came across some intriguing facts and figures:
Apparently the arrival of the rabbit in Australia can be traced back to the release of twelve wild rabbits by Thomas Austin on his property in Victoria, in October 1859. This pioneer settler imported the bunnies for hunting purposes. (Apparently the rabbits were brought over for the foxes (also introduced by the Poms) to hunt, to allow the settlers to hunt the foxes.)
Good one Thomas!
Another interesting fact is that Thomas and his lovely wife Elizabeth had eleven children – one might say they bred like… well… you know.
The population since Thomas’s rabbits started doing the wild thing (at one stage) reached 10 billion. (That’s a LOT of Easter and not much joy).
Since then, a rabbit proof fence has been tried (and failed) to stop the bunny tsunami, and in the late 1800s a desperate NSW Premier Sir Henry Parkes offered an international prize worth $10 million prize for a biological control. Louis Pasteur really wanted that prize. He had to fund his microbiology and vaccine research in Paris. So he sent his nephew to terra australis with a chicken cholera that kills rabbits. But it didn’t spread and he lost the bid. (Source)
The answer eventually came from Montevideo in South America, with the disease Myxomatosis. Myxa and other deliberately introduced control measures like the calici virus have controlled the population (estimates vary but the 100 million figure is being tossed around now).
According to the experts, native vegetation and native animals species (such as the bilby) have suffered enormously. Rabbits are suspected of being the most significant known factor in plant species loss in Australia and are known to cause serious erosion.
Growing up here at Granite Glen, I remember clearly always being cautioned to ride my horse very carefully anywhere near logs and beside waterways – they were riddled with rabbit holes and many a horse had broken its leg by accidently stepping into one.
And now I am warning my own kids to be extremely careful when riding horses out in the paddocks, helping with the mustering. I notice too that the bunny population is on the rise again. Visible warrne holes are multiplying and their scurrying tails are a regular sight across dirt roads everywhere we drive.
And while I don’t wish the plague on any living thing, I do wish someone, somewhere would invent ‘safe sex’ for rabbits.
Is that too much to ask?
Bunny condoms?
Ideas anyone?
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
So what about you?
What has been plaguing your part of the world lately?
And what measures are being taken to control the plague?
(Funny answers accepted – I need a laugh today! NB The final calendar poll tomorrow – then the winners announced in both the image categories and comments section!)
18 Comments
Lil Mama
We are having a real problem with voles. They are like a cross between a gopher and a mouse. Horrid little things and very distructive. I think they may start killing them selves of soon. I have seen several dead ones lately.
Pencil Writer
Bunnies are cute, but as you’ve noted, quite a plague when their numbers explode. We need some way to balance encourage balance in nature. Man meddling so often while trying to do a “good turn” in one area, often counterbalances things so far that the tipped scales are worse than at the beginning.
Sorry, I’m not smart enough to come up with any real helpful solutions. Perhaps someone should start us a KFB. I’ve eaten rabbit before… tastes just like chicken, right? ;} (Not a good joke, but perhaps someone could export the meat to places where there are populations starving. However, some religious dietary taboos may intervene. Gee! I don’t know. Sorry.)
Jayne
Rabbits are becoming resistant to the Calici virus, too 🙁
And they don’t taste good, no matter how much you smother them in vegies, stock and tomato sauce.
Jayne´s last blog post ..August 23
Hippomanic Jen
Mmmm. No good suggestions, but everytime I see Dr Harry Cooper going to some poor southerners’ pet bunny I get twitchy. Don’t they KNOW there’s a maximum $30,000 fine for rabbit-keeping? (or so the sign on the rabbit-proof fence says)
They are cute, though.
Leenie
Bunny condoms produce such a visual. You don’t EVEN want to know. (giggle, grin). But birth control for those little creatures would be a good thing in my mind however it had to happen.
Jack rabbits rose to plague proportions in the grazing range area where I grew up. There were “rabbit drives” or “bunny bashes” where the little furry vermin were driven from over miles by horse, dog, and everyone in the community waving arms. They were funneled into a fenced area and clubbed. The pelts went to furriers and the meat to pet food. Jack rabbits carried so many diseases a KFB would not have been the solution. Such an event would never be allowed now.
Leenie´s last blog post ..GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
Leenie
Nice photo, by the way. I like how the shadow of the tree works to show him off.
Leenie´s last blog post ..GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
Bush Babe
Thanks Leenie – I didn’t get too much of a chance to get arty – he stayed there for about 8 seconds! 🙂
UtahZen
American schools are not generally known for teaching a lot about other countries. We yanks are so egocentric 🙂 BUT i do remember learning about the rabbit problem in Australia in high school. It’s a great (bad) example of the dangers of introducing alien species. Sadly Australia has born the brunt of many alien species. Rats, cats to eat the rats, fox, sheep, a crazy poison toad…
Here in Utah (and all over the west) we are being devastated by the Japanese pine beetle. It’s killing thousands of acres of pine trees. It’s really sad.
And in my own house i have been invaded by peanut butter m&m’s. They are everywhere! I eat every one i see but they keep popping up. Talk about breeding like rabbits. Have you ever seen m&m’s breeding? They reproduce by the bag. HELP!!!!
UtahZen´s last blog post ..Trying my hand
Bush Babe
Heh heh!! Now THIS is what I needed Kate… an M&M invasion. I currently have a Shetland invasion in my houseyard – sure there is only one but MAN that is WAY too many Shetland on one’s gardens.
🙂
BB
debby
Well, it’s going to sound mean, but I’ll be the one to say it. They need to be hunted. Heavily. The govt. could pay a small bounty.
What is the next plague we are looking at here? The emerald ash borer. Such a pretty name for such a destructive bug. When he gets here, we will lose our ash trees. Virtually all of them. It’s what they do. Every year, they get closer.
debby´s last blog post ..At Tractor Supply
Bush Babe
Hunting billions of bunnies? I think they tried Debby, but there are JUST too many of the suckers and no-one wants to buy them…
Of course, it means plenty of hunting opps for those who want to try…
🙂
BB
debby
Actually, it has been done. There were so many bunnies during the dust bowl that they rounded them up and drove them into large pens and clubbed them to death, thousands at a time. How brutal! Ugly! But these little critters were so populous that no grass could grow to anchor the soil. They had no choice but to kill them. And so men rounded them up. In fact the picture of the bunnies around the water hole is actually one that was taken in the midwest during the dustbowl, I’m pretty sure.
I’m certainly not advocating that but really, paying a bounty for them to be hunted seems like a good idea. Or maybe I am not understanding how it is in Oz, where not virtually everyone owns a long gun. Perhaps where you are, there is a smaller concentration of prospective bounty hunters. The rabbit would not have to be sold, although we’d have plenty o’ bunnies in the freezer, of this I am certain.
I know that this makes me sound like a horrible person, but I guess that I am just practical. We hunt deer here for the self same reason; if they are not hunted, the populations explode. Tree damage, vegetation damage. The population must be managed. But I accept the fact that it well might be a different story over there.
debby´s last blog post ..At Tractor Supply
LeeNJ
Canada geese here! Also there does seem to be a bumper crop of cotton tails this year. We’ve watched about four batches grow up in our yard this summer. They have many natural enemies here, however, so I don’t think we’ll end up like OZ.
Jayke
We’ve got two species that are really enjoying the milder winters due to global warming here in the Great White North (Canada).
One – I’m not happy about. The coyote population has exploded and along with it, the number of run-ins with people, which is unusual as they normally flee at the mere scent of humans. The current train of thought is the fatal attacks have been near dens with pups in them, and all hikers have been warned to take a dog and bear mace with them.
The other – which I don’t mind at all, is deer. There are deer everywhere! My Dad’s old place used to have around 4-6 that would graze his pastures, now there are easily upwards of 12 every night and they are decimating his gardens. It’s not unheard of to see them strolling down suburban streets at night, though I haven’t a clue where they hide during the day.
Jayke´s last blog post ..Dealing with Disappointment
Nancy in Iowa
I’ve been here just one year now, but I have seen invasions twice by Chinese Beetles – my daughter wrote about them in one of her blog posts. But the greatest invasion I know of is Kudzu! The vine covers trees and structures in the southern US – Atlanta was smack dab in the middle of it. It was introduced into the US in 1876.
From Wikipedia:
Kudzu is a serious invasive plant in the United States. It has been spreading in the southern U.S. at the rate of 150,000 acres (61,000 ha) annually, “easily outpacing the use of herbicide spraying and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually.”[1] Its introduction has produced devastating environmental consequences.[2]
Kelly
Interesting post…..and comments! Amazing (yet not really when you think about it) that it all started with just 12 bunnies.
I did have a couple of pet rabbits as a child, but the idea of rabbits as pets lost its appeal for me when I saw the damage they could do to a garden or flower bed.
The only invasion I can think of around here at the moment is DUST bunnies!! Guess I need to clean house.
Kelly´s last blog post ..Silver
Sal
Plenty of bunnies here too and their red coated supposed enemies, the Fox. However the Fox gang here seem to think that everything else is a delicacy and leave the bunnies to me and my french onion and honey roasted recipe. Which we don’t have very often ’cause there are more exciting things to aim at when you go shooting Mum! Kids love it though when I do get to cook it!! We do have two family pet cats who are mighty rabbit hunters, so don’t see too many burrows close to the house anymore!
Sara @ BestPetReviews
Wow! Thanks for sharing that history, very interesting! I did not know your neck of the woods was having bunny problems. I also don’t know why they appeal to people, you can’t cuddle them like a dog or cat!
Sara @ BestPetReviews´s last blog post ..Canidae All Life Stages Dry Dog Food Review