Class VII Tibetan language ppt
- 139. TheRabbitInvasion
Inmostpartsoftheworld,rabbitshavelongbeenvaluedfortheirmeatandpelts.EuropehashadwildrabbitssincetheIceAges.Duringthetwelfthcentury,NormaninvadersbroughtEuropeanrabbitstoEngland,wherethe
rabbitsflourished.
Australiahadnorabbitsuntil1859.Then,anAustralianlandownerhadtwenty-fourEuropeanrabbitssenttohimfromEngland.Therabbitsmultiplied.Fouryearslater,thelandownersaidthathehadkilledabout20,000of
them.fortheirmeatandpelts.By1930theremainingrabbitshadmultipliedsofastthatmillionsofthemhadspreadovermostofAustralia.
Therabbitsfedonthesamegrass.thatnourishedAustralia’sdomesticsheepandcattle.Thebunniesatetherootsofthegrassandchewedoffalmosteveryothgrowingplanttheycouldreach.Therewasasharpdropinthe
numberofsheepthatanacreofgrazinglandcouldfeed.
Oneresultoftherabbitinvasionwasaseriousslumpintheproductionwool,Australia’sleadingexport.andsincetherabbitinvasionhadleftthelandalmostbareofplants,nothingwaslefttoholddownthefertiletopsoil.
Erosionbywindorwaterscatteredthetopsoilandchangedonce-productivelandintouseless,desert-likeareas.
Tosolveitsrabbitproblem,Australiatriedbounties,guns,fentes,traps,poisons.cats,dogs,andfoxes.Butithasbeenmyxomatosisarabbitdiseasespreadbymosquitoesandrabbitfleas,thatfinallykilledmostrabbits.In1950,
thediseasekilledover90percentofAustralia’srabbits.Threeyearslater,manyoftheremainingrabbitshaddevelopedanimmunitytomyxomatosis.Today,Australia’srabbitsarestillaseriousproblem.
AlthoughrabbitpeltsbringAustraliamillionsofdollarsyearly,themoneygainedisonlyasmallpartofthemoneylostinwool,cattle,andfarmcrops.