Primary tabs
Transcription
<p>[Page 55]</p><p>the government was forced to erect another fence, about 100 miles away, that costs £30 per mile. In the states afflicted by the rabbit plague many farmers who want to protect their crops and sheep have no choice but to erect their own small version of iron-mesh fences, which for the individual is very expensive and still doesn’t really help in the long run. Especially the watering-places in isolated areas are being fenced in with strong iron mesh, because water is the biggest and most precarious problem in Australian farming and stock-breeding. In a dry summer not a drop of rain falls for months on end. Rivers and streams dry up, meadows scorch and the afore-mentioned watering-places are the farmers’ sole hope. But animals, too, are being drawn to these places when the parched soil no longer yields food and drink. Especially kangaroos and rabbits show up in huge numbers and with their last breath try to reach the water. A few years</p>