"A century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible - the naive hopes of the early settlers, the frustration, environmental damage, cost to agriculture, dreams shattered, and the lessons learned and ignored. 'Those wild rabbits' highlights not only the damage done but also Australia's missed opportunities for real rabbit control. It recognises the bush's paradoxical love affair with an animal that was at one time a significant rural industry and is still recalled with nostalgia. More importantly, it offers hope for a brighter future, making the case for continued research to drive the next rabbit-control miracle, because rabbit plagues of the past will become the future unless we capture the history and embrace the lessons." -- book cover.

Contents:
Forward -- Preface -- 1. Why invite a pest? -- 2. To begin at the beginning -- 3. So, to Barwon Park -- 4. A brave new venture -- 5. Trench warfare -- 6. No more rabbits - it's against the law -- 7. Just kill them -- 8. In a parallel universe -- 9. Germ warfare - the magic bullet -- 10. Living under occupation -- 11. Rabbits as business -- 12. Rabbit as saviour -- 13. Big wars, big weapons -- 14. One shiny silver bullet? -- 15. The empire strikes back -- 16. Calici - easier to spell than haemorrhagic -- 17. Life and death after Wardang -- 18. Is war ever worth it?

Includes bibliographical references (pages 260-264) and index.