What would happen if troubles came to present day Earth? Would we be able to keep their population in check or could it be the end of humanity?
If we turned them into a foodstuff, we'd solve world hunger and keep their numbers down. They are space-hamsters after all.
They'd be like Furby and Beanie Babies. People would collect them thinking they'd be worth something someday, but because of market oversaturation, they're basically worthless. Except maybe as food. Feed the world!
Tribbleburgers, Tribble - on - Stick, Tribble Scampi, Tribble Sausage, Tribble McNuggets, Tribble-Spam, Tribble-Loaf, Tribble-Flambe, Tribble-Fondue, Welsh Raretribble, Tribble-And-Jelly Sandwiches... Heck if we can use the hair as a staple fiber it would be useful as a biomass fuel, staple fiber, polymer feedstock... The question is however can we control them. Look what happened with native invasive species, the Gypsy Moth was imported in an effort to study and develop a domestic (to the USA) silk industry, many many decades later they are still a terribly destructive pest in the Northeast/New England region.
My phone turned "tribbles" into "troubles" in the original post :-/ I'm wondering if another animal would step up one hunt them naturally like on the tribble homeworld
What do they taste like? Chicken? Beef? Pork? "Tribble?" Maybe through genetic alteration we could make all of the above!
They'd solve world hunger. A food source that self-replicates, no one has any excuse to go hungry. Hell, we'd be giving Tribbles to the poor just to cut down on their numbers.
One of @Masao's contest entries from years ago, seems appropriate here: http://masazaki.deviantart.com/art/Tribbleburger-277876498
If they produce an offspring of 10 every twelve hours they would be everywhere in no time. Lots of traffic accidents from tribble guts all over the road
It's interesting actually as, as has been said, they would likely solve world hunger. [Despite the wails of idiotic groups like PETA] However, the rate at which they are depicted as breeding IS troublesome. Any type of farming is probably going to lead to escapes and they could potential have a massive impact on random ecosystems world-wide. They'd be a bit of a catch 22 with their huge benefits and huge drawbacks.
Tribbles have to eat to reproduce. Even if we could keep them under control, we wouldn't be getting magic food from nowhere. The more tribbles you want, the more you have to feed them. Don't most of our food sources do that?
Controlled use of husbandry and as a material for furs, and other materials. Though I imagine once it's clear how fast they breed they'd be regulated heavily and kept under control
Farmers would poison the crap out of them and end up destroying the insect population as a consequence, destabilizing the entire ecosystem.
Tribbles will gain their rights in a landmark ruling and within 25 years we'll have the first Tribble starship captains who'll go on to have careers of distinction and accomplishment. So there!