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Effects of rabbit removal

A LOOK at what life would be like without the scourge of rabbits has reminded authorities to ensure native species don’t become collateral damage in removal activities.

Ecology researchers from Deakin University, the University of Adelaide and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research modelled how much the pests could be rubbed out without adverse environment effects and found beyond a 40 per cent decrease could harm small native mammals.

While the study focused on arid areas, Deakin Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology Euan Ritchie said it reinforced the need for awareness of the impact of controlling rabbits, which have taken over Geelong and the Bellarine.

“To have effective pest control, you really need to be aware of the whole ecology and how species are interacting,” Mr Ritchie said.

“If you can eradicate rabbits by 40 per cent then we’d expect substantial benefit because there’d be less competition from rabbits and smaller cats and foxes, but then when rabbits crash, they then prey switch, which compounds the impact native mammals have already suffered.

“The take home message is that if we can reduce our rabbit population, we do expect a long-term gain for small mammals and reptiles and groundnesting birds, so it’s not to say we don’t want to get rid of them or control them, we just need to be careful how we do it.

“Rabbit eradication is definitely possible in some areas but it might not be feasible across all of Australia.”

Bellarine Landcare Group member Bernie Malone said local authorities could only dream of cutting the out-ofcontrol rabbit population 40 per cent.

“We’re lucky to keep the rabbit population static,” he said. “The rabbits are destroying our ecology and what we’re trying to improve. They eat the native grasses, they stop native trees regenerating, undermine waterways and cause a huge environmental damage.

“Long-term, our native animals are eating these plants.

“A lot of different types of birds are a lot less prevalent than they used to be.

“We’re trying to establish koala corridors and that demands for us to protect the trees from rabbits. You can’t grow a tree on the Bellarine Peninsula unless they’re protected from rabbits.”

City of Greater Geelong director for city services, Shaun Broadbent, said the city was responsible for managing rabbit control in consultation with Agriculture Victoria.

“The city undertakes an annual program of rabbit control on priority sites,” he said. “K5 Calicivirus was released at 19 locations on reserves throughout the municipality.”

Agriculture Victoria was unable to provide information about the rabbit population in the region.