Fascinating insight into rabbit industry
A book about the rabbit industry in Ireland has been 20 years in the making, according to its author, Michael Conry, who has just made the publication available to the public in Dundalk through Carrolls Bookshop in Park Street.
Michael spoke to the Argus while he was in Dundalk and said the book is aimed at anyone who has an interest in the countryside and the history of the rabbit industry.
He said: ‘ The rabbit, which was first recorded in Ireland in the 9th Century, spread to every townland in the four provinces and to all the islands by the end of the 18th Century.
‘ The population of rabbits was so great that it gave its name in Gaelic or anglicised form, to hundreds of townlands and islands in Ireland. The rabbit was an important source of meat for thousands of Irish families in poverty-stricken Ireland throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
‘Catching rabbits supplemented the meagre incomes of urban workers, farm labourers and small farmers alike. It provides the livelihood for the unemployed and thousands of professional trappers, snarers and ferreting men.
‘At the same time, they were an unmitigated pest on the farming community, decimating grassland, arable crops and forestry plantations’.
The rabbit was unique among small mammals as they formed the basis of an important industry in the 20th Century. Millions of rabbits were exported to Britain especially during the two world wards when Britain was on the verge of starvation and needed all the un-rationed meat and food that Ireland could supply.
Michael said: ‘ The export of millions of rabbit skins to Britain and elsewhere was a very important spin-off of the rabbit industry. The introduction of myxomatosis disease decimated the rabbit industry, at least temporarily, creating havoc in all sectors of the business.
‘Now, rabbit has practically disappeared off the menu in Ireland’.
‘ The Rabbit Industry in Ireland - 20th Century Snapshots’ by Michael Conry is available at Carrolls Bookshop or by emailing the author at conrymj@gmail. com.