Invasive species authorities are calling for a coordinated effort between the public, governments and landowners to tackle the widespread and devastating issue of feral rabbits across Australia.
The animals, first introduced to the country in the 1800s for recreational hunting, run amok in plague proportions on the mainland and cost the economy an estimated $200 million per year to manage.
Experts say “they really do touch everybody in our landscape” and outcompete native species for food and habitat. The pests also cause extensive soil erosion by overgrazing vegetation, leaving landscapes barren and disrupting natural ecosystems.
Heidi Kleinert is the national rabbit management coordinator with the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions. She spoke to Yahoo News and urged Australians — including the “everyday member the community” — to utilise the “multiple tools that we’ve got out there” to combat the problem.
“With pest species like rabbits, it’s very challenging to eradicate them across Australia entirely,” she explained. “But on a smaller scale, say in your property scale or your garden scale, it is definitely possible.
“There are some communities that have eradicated the resident invasive species there, for example on Philip Island, they’ve eradicated foxes. So on a smaller scale, definitely eradication is possible.”
‘Thousands upon thousands’ of rabbits were spotted at a Melbourne park in December. Source: Reddit
Why are rabbits such a major issue in Australia?
Kleinert explained that in agriculture, rabbits inflict significant economic damage by destroying crops and pastures.
Despite various control measures — including the release of biological controls like myxomatosis in the 1950s and he rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in the 1990s — rabbits remain a persistent and costly invasive species in Australia, making it all the more important to coordinate an across-the-board effort to eliminate as many as possible.
While the two main biological control methods have been somewhat successful in reducing rabbit populations, the impact has been mixed.
The myxoma virus initially led to a dramatic decline in rabbit numbers, with up to 90 per cent of the population being wiped out in some areas. However, over time, rabbits developed some resistance to the virus, and populations began to recover.
Genetic engineering could stop rabbits breeding: ‘Game changer’
Scientists are now exploring genetic engineering to alter rabbits’ reproductive capabilities, for example, ensuring females can only produce male young.
A gene drive is a technique that promotes the inheritance of a particular gene, even if it would not typically be passed on according to natural genetic principles. This allows scientists to spread a specific genetic trait, such as infertility or disease resistance, more rapidly throughout a population.
Kleinert said it stands to be a “game changer”.
“Because rabbits can breed every 28 days — and as soon as they give birth, they can fall pregnant again — one pair of rabbits can breed up to 184 young in 18 months,” she said.
“So if we could only breed male rabbits, that would have a real impact — that’d be a game changer.”
Everyone has a role to play in managing rabbit populations
“Everyone can help and everyone is touched by the rabbit issue”, Kleinert said, encouraging community members to get involved in the fight.
“The rabbit plague was in the 50s, and for a lot of us, some of us alive today, we haven’t seen rabbit numbers at that extreme population. We’ve never seen a landscape without rabbits,” she said.
“It’s hard for us to imagine what our landscape look like without rabbits. We would discover so many more plants and animal species, because we know rabbits are heavily impacting our natives.
“They don’t belong here and it’ll be really great to give our native species a chance by removing them.”
Kleinert encouraged the public to report rabbit sightings in their communities, enabling eradication efforts to focus on hotspots.
For easy to understand rabbit management advice people can visit PestSmart website. To understand the rabbit impact in your community you can record and map the problem, download the app Rabbitscan.
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