Breeding like rabbits

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On Christmas Day 1859 Thomas Austin, a British ex-pat, gave Australia a gift they have never forgotten. He was missing his old hunting traditions and so asked his family to send him 24 European rabbits that he could breed for hunting. Sadly, he seems to have forgotten that rabbits breed like…well like rabbits. Genetically disposed to flourish in the Australian climate their population grew rapidly. Seven years after their release 14,000 had been killed on Austin’s estate alone. This plague of rabbits became an ecological and environmental tragedy. Their population today exceeds 150 million and costs the government more than $200 million a year to control.

In happier news the first Christmas Day gave the world a better gift that has also never been forgotten. An infant who became a man and gathered around him 12 apostles to add to 12 tribes of Israel – 24 in all. This man died on a cross one Friday but then rose again three days later. The tiny community he had established started to grow exponentially. First hundreds, then quickly thousands, then millions and, over time, billions. His name is Jesus and where his followers have authentically heard his voice and obeyed his teaching the world has been transformed for the better.

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