Intermediate passages 1 The best recruiting agents

14 The invaders

In the early days of the settlement of Australia, enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the European rabbit. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes*, so it multiplied incredibly quickly. It overran a whole continent, and caused devastation to herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle. Scientists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit was susceptible to a fatal virus disease. Trying to create local epidemics of this disease, they found out that there was a type of mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits. So while the rest of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one. It effectively spread the disease all over the continent and drastically diminished the rabbit population.

1. The rabbits

1. 
   were finally exterminated, but only after a long struggle
   
2. 
   had been in Australia for a long time, growing in number with each year, when the first settlers arrived there
   
3. 
   were to be killed, for they were carrying a fatal virus which was also dangerous for human beings
   
4. 
   increased in number rapidly in Australia, because nothing interfered with their breeding there
   

2. The Australians

1. 
   had come there from various countries around the world
   
2. 
   wanted to get rid of the rabbits because they were destroying pasture that could be used for sheep and cattle
   
3. 
   were making their living merely by raising sheep and cattle on their farms
   
4. 
   hadn't expected to meet with such a big rabbit population on their new land
   

3. We can conclude from the passage that

1. 
   the rabbits were reduced in number through a fatal virus deliberately spread by a kind of mosquito
   
2. 
   it had become a matter of life and death for the people in Australia to get rid of the rabbits
   
3. 
   though it was hazardous for themselves as well, the settlers nonetheless encouraged the spread of the epidemic
   
4. 
   being a pioneer requires a man or woman to be prepared to face certain risky conditions
   

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