The Monthly, July 2009, No. 47

Rabbits are poor conservers of energy. They can’t adapt to drought. Their diet is not diverse. All in all, they are not well suited to the Australian environment. But when it comes to reproduction they can’t be bettered. Mating takes 30 seconds, courtship included. In a single year, one doe can generate as many as 100 rapid-rooting offspring.

By 1950, the number of rabbits in Australia had reached 600 million. They devoured pastures and crops, ringbarked trees and spread erosion with their burrows. Shooting, poisoning, blasting, gassing, trapping, fencing, using...