Shooters, Trappers & Poisoners

Shooters, Trappers & Poisoners explores the rapidly receding world of Australian doggers and rabbiters as they wage war on two of Australia’s most familiar feral animals, the dingo, its mixed-breed descendants and the feral rabbit. Beginning in the 19th century and continuing to the present, two paths emerge: one is the lucrative industry of selling animal pelts and carcasses (including the harvesting of koala and Tasmanian tiger skins); while the other is the practical requirements for eliminating wild dogs and rabbits. Rabbiters and doggers are notorious for their unique and secretive tradecraft, such as the preparation of odiferous dog baits, the use of firearms, the setting of traps and the deployment of arcane poisons and gases. The book also explores the phenomenon of the Australian outlaw animal, the impact of germ warfare on rabbiting and the isolation of the outback. To frame this lively survey, Shooters, Trappers & Poisoners draws on oral histories, bush folklore, memoirs, scientific studies, contemporary newspaper accounts and 37 rarely seen photographs and illustrations.