Rabbit plague invades township

Rabbit numbers on the Moeraki Peninsula have exploded with residents saying they have reached “plague” proportions.

The township of Moeraki is “just crawling” with rabbits this spring, one person says, and dozens of rabbits can be seen all over the camping ground, on roadsides, in gardens and anywhere they can find food.

Unable to shoot or poison rabbits in urban areas, locals are left waiting for the release of a new strain of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus to help control them.

The Otago Regional Council says it is the landowner’s responsibility to control pests, but residents spoken to by the Otago Daily Times say they have grown weary of the fight.

Waitaki District Council Waihemo councillor Jan Wheeler, who lives on a farm on the peninsula, said the problem there was “shocking” despite her husband’s own rabbit control, and it was worse in the Moeraki village, which was “just crawling” with them this year.

“For every pair there’s been about seven babies running about. It’s a shocking problem. It’s been like this for about six years and it’s growing every year.”

Retiree Brian Todd, of Hampden, last month began hunting, freezing and selling rabbits killed near Moeraki as pet food to a Timaru business.

In the middle of one day, he stood in the same spot on a Moeraki farm for two and a half hours and shot 46 rabbits, he said.

“There’s more rabbits in town than on the outskirts. The last thing I want to do is lose my firearms licence but I reckon I could take out 1000 around town in a couple of weeks.”

An application to import the new virus strain is being considered by the Ministry for Primary Industries. It infects only the European rabbit.