Monday, April 13, 2009

Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit, Run, Run, Run

Tomorrow will be our last walk in New Zealand this year. This morning we did the Skyline walk again, which is about 8 kms and hilly with it. Popping into town for my muffin and coffee breakfast has already brought that up to 12 kms, and by tonight it will probably be 18 kms or so for the day.

Before setting out, I had a quick look at the local paper and was reminded of one of the reasons we did not stay in Alexandra over Easter, even though it is the base for the longest walks we do in this country.

The reason I mention is The Great Easter Bunny Hunt. 460 shooters from 39 teams (with many more turned away because they “did not make the cut”) blast away for 24 hours at rabbits which apparently infest the area. This year 14,799 rabbits were killed, with various hares, stoats, ferrets, goats, possums, turkeys and the odd feral cat bringing the total bag of “pests” up to 15,495. In 24 hours!

If we were still around, there would not be much escape from evidence of that carnage. And all the dead bodies are laid out in neat rows in Pioneer Park, which is open plan and smack in the center of Alexandra. Not a happy sight for vegetarians.

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