Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm not sure why you'd think that. Rabbits are an absolute pest in Australia - they were very unwisely introduced from Europe and have bred like, er, rabbits  . They have no natural predators. |
Because the situation as presented in the novel is an inefficient way to cull rabbits - shotgun cartridges aren't cheap, even if you reload your own. Yes, kids (used to) take their air-rifles, rifles, or (less commonly) shotguns out taking pot shots at rabbits in the afternoon, but the farmers generally don't. Not to say they never do, but as described in the novel doesn't fit well. Some times farmers might make a family thing of it with some spotlighting at night, but if they were serious about culling rabbits they would poison, rip up their burrows and/or various other measures depending on what was available. The circumstances described in the novel would, in my experience, fit better with kangaroo shooting rather than rabbits.