Rabbits were introduced to Numa Island in the nineteenth century  Overgrazing by the enormous population of rabbits now menaces the island' s agriculture  The government proposes to reduce the population by using a virus that has caused devastating epidemics in rabbit populations elsewhere  There is, however, a chance that the virus will infect the bilby, an endangered native marsupial
The government' s plan, ttherefore, may serve the interests of agriculture but will clearly increase the threat to native wildlife
The virus that the government proposes to use has been successfully used elsewhere to control populations of rabbits.