European Rabbit Plague (1859)
“The earth will never get rid of them,” wrote Thomas Austin after releasing 24 European rabbits in Australia for hunting sport. Without natural predators, they multiplied astronomically. Within a decade, millions of hectares of vegetation across vast areas. Desperate farmers tried everything – poisons, fences, diseases. Nothing stopped the invasion. Australia still battles billions of rabbits destroying native ecosystems today, all tracing back to one man’s decision.
