Rabbits Reported In Fiji
p. 45 · Read in the full issue
Alarming Story Being Investigated
DESPITE an official ban, enforced rigidly over many years, it would appear that the common grey rabbit is loose in Viti Levu, Fiji. This report, published by the Fiji Times on July 21, has caused considerable uneasiness, and is being investigated by Department of Agriculture officials.
The report is based on the statement of a well-known resident, who says that, while motoring along the Queens Road, in the Serua Hills, he saw a brown and white rabbit running beside the road, in front of his car. Rabbits are also reported near Tavua.
If the rabbit pest should get loose in Viti Levu, it would probably affect agri culture and gardening there.
Some people say that the rabbit is not necessarily a menace within the tropics.
It flourishes best, and does its greatest damage, in temperate climes, as shown by its notorious history in New Zealand, and in that part of Australia below the Tropic of Capricorn. But it has been re ported as a nuisance in some of the West Indies —Jamaica, especially.
The common rabbit is believed to have had its origin in the Iberian Peninsula, or, perhaps, the Balearic Islands; but, by the Middle Ages it had spread over most of Europe. It cannot stand great cold, how ever, and has never been seen in Northern Russia or Scandinavia. In the past couple of centuries, it has spread over most of the world —but it seems to have attained pest proportions only in countries where there are no natural enemies, like Aus tralia and New Zealand.
The rodent has got loose upon one or two Pacific Islands, and persisted there, in spite of most unfavourable conditions.
There is a considerable rabbit population on one of the Phoenix Islands, for ex ample; it has hung on there for several decades, although the island is only a sandbank.
There is much high, cool country in Viti Levu, which may be favourable to rabbit-breeding. If the rabbit really is there, there may be unhappy develop ments. A rabbit can have from four to eight litters a year, and there can be anything up to eight in each litter. A scientist calculated that one pair of rab bits, under 100 per cent, favourable con ditions, could increase to 1,247,840 rabbits in 48 months —and Australian graziers believe it!