14. Convicts Need Feeding, Don’t They?
For generations, the American Colonies had served as a convenient dumping ground for British convicts. However, that outlet was foreclosed after America gained its independence. Understandably, the new republic was not eager to go on accepting shiploads of British jailbirds. Conveniently for the authorities in London, they had recently explored and laid claim to another huge territory, even farther away from Britain: Australia.
So the British began transporting their convicts to Australia, which had been recently explored by Captain Cook. Ever eager to economize, the British authorities shipped rabbits along with the convicts, as a rapidly breeding food source. Eventually, some rich settlers released rabbits and hares into the wild for hunting sport. As seen below, the results were disastrous.