HL Deb 11 November 1953 vol 184 cc211-2

2.51 p.m.

LORD RENNELL

My Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries are in a position to estimate the damage caused to agriculture and forestry in this country by the depredation of rabbits; whether the Ministry consider that such depredations have in recent years been increasing or decreasing; and whether the Minister is in a position to estimate the annual cost of the protection of agriculture and forestry against the depredation by rabbits.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (LORD CARRINGTON)

My Lords, there are insufficient data on which to make a reliable estimate of the total damage caused by wild rabbits to agriculture and forestry in this country, but it is clearly very large. For example, a recent survey of damage to winter wheat in the Midlands, Eastern and Southern England showed that a loss equivalent to 1.6 cwt. per acre was avoided by wiring small areas against rabbits. It is known that, from a given quantity of feed, sheep will produce seven times as much meat as rabbits; and experiments have shown how substantially the fattening value of pastures and the number of sheep they can carry is reduced when the pastures are heavily infested with rabbits.

The numbers of rabbits and the damage they cause have tended to increase in many parts of the country in recent years, although where farmers and landowners have taken concerted action to destroy the rabbits a marked reduction in the damage has been achieved. The annual cost of protecting 750,000 acres of State-owned plantations against rabbits is about £500,000; and the yearly cost of protecting privately owned woodlands might well amount to another £1,500,000 or more. I am afraid I cannot give any reliable estimate of the expenditure incurred in protecting agriculture against depredations by rabbits.

LORD RENNELL

I am much obliged to the noble Lord.

VISCOUNT BLEDISLOE

My Lords, in this connection, may I ask what is the present attitude of the Minister of Agriculture about myxomatosis, a disease which is used in many parts of the world to suppress this particular pest?

LORD CARRINGTON

My noble friend Lord Rennell has given me notice that he intends to raise this point in the debate to follow, and I shall be making a statement about it.