17. Combating a Catastrophe
By 1920, there were an estimated 10 billion feral rabbits hopping around Australia. They competed with livestock for pasture, ate crops, and stripped the soil of vegetation. The latter is particularly problematic, because of all the inhabited continents, Australia has the most vulnerable soil and is the one most susceptible to erosion.
For over a century, Australia has lived with the consequences of the idea of releasing rabbits into the wild. Ever since, the country has struggled to control its rabbit population, with measures that included shooting, poisoning, and infecting the pests with epidemic diseases. The most conspicuous measure, though was and remains fencing, ranging from fences around individual farms and pastures, to massive fences stretching for hundreds of miles, such as Western Australia’s Rabbit-Proof Fence. The latter failed to live up to its name: rabbits jumped over and burrowed beneath it.