The disease myxomatosis was the most successful way yet found to deal with Australia’s plague of wild rabbits. For the first time since the nineteenth century rabbit numbers came under control. Rabbits had been introduced from England by people who wanted to hunt and eat them. Unfortunately conditions in many parts of Australia were ideal for rabbits to multiply to huge numbers. They would eat food needed by native animals and stock such as sheep. Farmers had tried to control rabbit numbers in various ways such as poisoning, shooting and erecting fences. None of these methods worked for very long. The scientific organisation CSIRO decided to try using the South American rabbit disease myxomatosis instead, and released it in Gunbower, Victoria in 1950. Myxomatosis spread very fast among the rabbit population, killing about 90% of them. For about 30 years, rabbit numbers stayed relatively under control. However eventually rabbits developed immunity to the disease and new approaches had to be tried.