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phil · Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:46 pm Post subject: Paul Armand Delille

Prof. Paul Felix Armand-Delille (1874‑1963) was a physician, bacteriologist, professor, and member of the French Academy of Medicine who inadvertently brought about the collapse of rabbit populations throughout much of Europe and beyond in the 1950s through the myxomatosis virus.

Born in Fourchambault in Central France, Armand-Delille studied medicine and became a professor at the Paris School of Medicine, specialising in infectious diseases in children. During the First World War he carried out important work on malaria, for which he was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour.

It was during his retirement that the events for which he became best-known took place. Having read of the effectiveness of the myxomatosis virus in dealing with rabbit plagues in Australia, in 1952 Armand-Delille decided to introduce the virus onto his 3 km² private estate of Chateau Maillebois in Eure-et-Loire. He believed that the enclosed nature of the estate would prevent its spread. Inoculating two rabbits with virus acquired from a laboratory in Lausanne, Armand-Delille succeeded in rapidly eradicating the population on his estate, with 98% of the rabbits being dead within 6 weeks. However, within 4 months it became clear that the virus had somehow escaped from his estate, the corpse of an infected rabbit having been found 50 km away.

Within a year of the initial release, an estimated 45% of the wild rabbits of France had died of the disease, along with 35% of domestic rabbits, and the disease had spread to the rest of western Europe, decimating rabbit populations in Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, England, and beyond. The effect on the rabbit population of France was dramatic. In the hunting season covering the year of the release of the virus, 1952-53, the total number of rabbits killed in 25 hunts exceeded 55 million. The figure for 1956-57 was just 1.3 million, a 98% reduction.

Armand-Delille found himself both condemned by rabbit hunters and showered with praise by farmers and foresters. Prosecuted, in January 1955 he was convicted and fined 5000 francs; and honored, in June 1956 he was awarded a gold medal to commemorate his achievement by Bernard Dufay, honorary director-general of the French Department of Rivers and Forests. The medal depicts Armand-Delille on one side, and a dead rabbit on the other.

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Interesting post Phil. I was led to believe that it was spread in the UK by farmers. and not by accident. The first attempt was a failure as unlike in Australia in which the virus was spread by mosquito. this did not work over in the UK. It was not until the rabbit fleas were infected in large enough numbers could the disease be spread.
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phil · Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:36 pm Post subject:

Regardless of Armand Delille's motives he injected the rabbits deliberately.

I would think once farmers could see the damage it was doing to the rabbit population they would help to spread it.

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Indeed. I am led to believe that the virus originally came from south America where the local rabbit population had a high degree of immunity. Once the disease took hold over here and the devastation of the rabbit population was clearly seen, there was a call on the guvernment to step in but they declined and decided to let the disease run its course. After all the years since it was introduced it still wipes out pockets of rabbits. My cousin who is a farmer thinks it has been a great success. Perhaps he is right.
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phil · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:43 pm Post subject:

I can see it from the farmers point of view,but i wonder how much revenue landowners got from the sale of rabbits before myxi.
Do you think rabbit would be as popular now as was in the fifties if myxi hadn't of happened.

Camile · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject:

Nice story ..

Did I not hear somewhere that the man actually committed suicide after seeing the disaster he created ?

I haven't seen better ways than ferreting yet to control the population of rabbits.

Camile

phil · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject:

I have read it somewhere that he committed suicide but can't find any evidence to confirm it.

phil · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:

Prof. Paul Felix Armand-Delille (1874‑1963) If he did commit suicide,he would of been nearly ninety.

Camile · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

Remorse didn't kill him then !

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

I think that general public would have had no problem with eating wild rabbit meat if it was not for the mixi. No more than eating duck or pheasant me thinks, but now the do gooders have stepped in. Plus there is a ground swell of opinion that dislikes the killing of wild animals. While I dont like killing anything I will always claim the right to do so for the pot. I was once at the local mart in the UK, there was a number of pheasants put under the hammer but no bids. Well not until I sore what was going on and brought six brace for a fiver Very Happy

. Feeling well pleased I slung them over mu shoulder and walked to the car park. I was showered with abuse from more than one passer by. Cruel bastard etc. When I was a lad a good days ferreting would see us with a stick over our shoulder with many rabbits hamstrung over it. We would be stopped by locals who would buy a brace or two. Do we live in better times now?

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