Comments on: I Got Myxomatosis

I Got Myxomatosis

Panjandrum — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:29:29 -0800

Twenty years ago, on this day, Nelson Mandela, walked out of prison. While Mandela would go on to end Aparthied and revolutionize South African fashion, the island where he spent eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison would go on to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The lack of regular habitation, however, has brought a new problem to island, a plague of rabbits.

By: stavrogin

stavrogin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:34:06 -0800

Since mid-October, 5,300 rabbits have been killed, along with 78 unwanted deer and 38 feral cats. Mr. Wilke estimates there are about 8,000 rabbits still to go. Seems a little stupid to kill the cats if your problem is too many rabbits.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:39:45 -0800

Still a great song.

By: borkencode

borkencode — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:43:21 -0800

Seems a little stupid to kill the cats if your problem is too many rabbits. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:45:22 -0800

Seems a little stupid to kill the cats if your problem is too many rabbits. I don't know about those particular cats, but most feral cats are pretty scrawny and probably wouldn't have a heck of a time catching a rabbit, let alone killing it, unless they have learned how to pack hunt.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:45:51 -0800

probably would, ugh.

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:47:08 -0800

FRONTLINE has a clip of Mandela on Robbin Island. Sorry about the quality-- it only existed as a postage-stamp sized RealPlayer file from 1996 when I re-encoded it.

By: stavrogin

stavrogin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:48:14 -0800

I'm sure they could manage the fwuffy wittle bite sized baby bunnies.

By: stavrogin

stavrogin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:48:40 -0800

But, then, cats probably wouldn't go down into warrens.

By: Panjandrum

Panjandrum — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:14:12 -0800

The solution, obviously, is to re-imprison Mandela on Robben Island. They didn't have this problem when he was there, and why? Because Mandela gets things done, that's why.

By: The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:20:47 -0800

I've got a theory...

By: bearwife

bearwife — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:47:17 -0800

In a life of many travels, one of the most unforgettable experiences for me was touring Robben Island, and standing in Nelson Mandela's cell. His willingness to forgive still awes me. I don't know if I could ever have mustered such greatness of soul. And, of course, it transformed South Africa.

By: empty vessel

empty vessel — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:51:57 -0800

Maybe Mandel signed a deal with Bugs to end apartheid.

By: empty vessel

empty vessel — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:05:01 -0800

Mandela* time for new keyboard batteries.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:18:12 -0800

I don't know what I thought this FPP was building up to, but it was not wabbits.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:43:45 -0800

From the fashion link: ...she traipsed down the hallowed halls of the provincial legislature Hallowed halls of the provincial legislature? Seems that writer from the BBC lacks the slightest idea of what the Eastern Cape is all about. There is nothing 'hallowed' about those halls. The best thing Eastern Cape has going for it is the simple fact is isn't any of the other provinces. But I'm biased, I lived there, and rather enjoyed it. If all South Africa had to worry about were rabbits on Robben Island, they'd be in fabulous shape. I talked with a friend there, yesterday, and he reported temperatures of 40 C (104 F, extremely unusual) and people dying from heat. I worry about the subsistence farmers and the health of their livestock.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:39:52 -0800

The cats kill birds and penguins which live on the island.

By: bearwife

bearwife — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:16:35 -0800

Mandela makes a public appearance to be honored by South Africa's parliament.

By: tuckshopdilettante

tuckshopdilettante — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:09:09 -0800

A little off-topic, but my father spent much of his childhood on Robben Island - from the late 40s to 1959, just before the transition to a maximum security prison. My grandfather was stationed there with the Public Works Department and, amongst other things, helped to build the island library, of which he was the librarian for many years. I grew up regaled with thrilling tales of shipwrecks, dramatic storms, shallow leper graves, and unsuccessful prison breaks. (Nothing about rabbits, though.) My grandfather told me that the prisoners assigned to ditch-digging duties were guarded by warders armed with assegaais (traditional African spears with long blades). During their lunch-break, the warders would often repair to the nearest shade for a nap - first handing their weapon to a prisoner to continue their duties on their behalf...