Burrow blasts a gas idea

Weekly Times (Victoria) 2nd April 1997

By Joanne Collins

This article had a large photo of two men carrying flame thrower-like equipment with caption "Bunnie busters:Rid-A-Rabbit inventor George Douglas and John Maumill are equipped to kill", the photo being by Vince Calati

Blasting rabbit burrows is not in the spirit of Easter but farmers in the Woady Yaloak catchment will do anything to combat their worst infestation in 40 years.

The Western District catchment-bounded by Linton and Cressy-is one of the state's worst rabbit hot spots and the perfect site to test-drive a new gassing device called Rid-A-Rabbit.

About 30 farmers and others keen to judge the merit of the $2450 device including local MP Ian Smith,attended the trial.

Inventor George Douglas operated the "blower", which released a spurt of LP gas into the burrow, and his assistant John Maumill operated an electronic probe that ignited the gas.

The demonstration was over in a matter of seconds, after a small tremor.

Farmers in the catchment are looking for another weapon in their rabbit control arsenal and will probably purchase a unit between them.

The calicivirus failed in the area and Alcoa Woady Yaloak Project chairman Kevin Knight said wool growers were losing grazing capacity of 2dse/ha.

Rid-A-Rabbit inventor George Douglas, a retired plumber and opal miner, has tested his invention on 300 burrows over the past eight months, non of which have been re-inhabited.




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