Myxomatosis
：A History of Pest Control and the Rabbit
Publication subTitle ：A History of Pest Control and the Rabbit
Author： Bartrip> Peter W.J.
Publisher： I.B.Tauris
Publication year： 2008
E-ISBN: 9780857715029
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781845115722
Subject： S4 Plant Protection
Keyword： 植物保护
Language： ENG
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Description
Myxomatosis, a viral disease of European wild rabbits, was discovered in South America in the 1890s. It was deliberately introduced in Australia and France in the 1950s and reached Britain in 1953. Within a year it had killed tens of millions of rabbits from Kent to the Shetlands. The British reaction to myxomatosis was mixed; members of the public reared on the tales of Beatrix Potter were appalled. With meat still rationed, consumers deplored the loss of a cheap and nutritious foodstuff. Many farmers, on the other hand, welcomed the rabbit's demise as a serious agricultural pest and actively spread the disease.However some lost their livelyhood through the spread of Myxomatosis, such as rough shooters who regretted the loss of prey and hatters and furriers who mourned the unavailability of the fur on which they depended. Rabbits also had champions within the 'establishment'; including Winston Churchill and the Archbishop of York, who both regarded myxomatosis as an abomination. Winston Churchill was personally influential in making its deliberate transmission a criminal offence. Even the farmers and foresters who applauded the rabbit's demise often had qualms about a disease that inflicted such a horrible death. Myxomatosis presented the authorities with difficult questions: should they try to contain the disease, encourage it, or do nothing? Should they take advantage of rabbit depopulation and try to exterminate the animal? _x000D_Britain's myxomatosis outbreak has hithe
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