<P> In 1885, Professor Watson of Adelaide University suggested releasing rabbits inoculated with rabbit scab into an enclosed trial area . Limited trials suggested that the measure would be ineffective in the drier parts of the continent . </P> <P> In September 1887, Dr Herbert Butcher (1854--1893) of Wilcannia found a number of dead emaciated rabbits at Tintinallogy Station . He and Dr H. Ellis of Sydney concluded that the animals had died of a novel disease which they dubbed Tintinallogy virus . They felt it could be an effective control measure, but whatever the rabbits died from was never proved to be infectious or contagious . It may have been simple starvation caused by natural elements . </P> <P> In 1906 and 1907, Jean Danysz, of the Pasteur Institute of Paris, conducted trials on Broughton Island, New South Wales, of a strain of Pasteurella bacteria he had developed, which proved to be specific to rabbits, but it proved to be a less - than - satisfactory control measure . Dr Danysz felt that Broughton Island was a poor choice of test site, and that extensive experiments should be conducted on the mainland . Frank Tidswell, who was his chief Australian collaborator, continued Danysz's trials after he left in 1907, and also began trials of the Yalgogrin, Gundagai and Picton microbes (named for the stations where infected rabbits were found). But there was a lack of financial support from the Federal government, or the collaboration of affected States, that would be necessary to prove that the measure safe and effective . The fact that these pathogens did not wipe out whole populations might have raised doubts as to their efficacy . </P> <P> In 1950, following research conducted by Frank Fenner, myxoma virus was deliberately released into the rabbit population, causing it to drop from an estimated 600 million to around 100 million . Growing genetic resistance in the remaining rabbits had allowed the population to recover to 200--300 million by 1991 . </P>

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