A recent webinar provided insights from the latest Australian research into rabbits; their impacts on the environment and agriculture, the incidence and effectiveness of RHDV, and ideas on how Easter Bilby can help promote rabbit control.
The event was jointly hosted by Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) and Rabbit-Free Australia. It also served as a formal release of two important reports from CISS on the benefits of rabbit bio-control and the impact of RHDV-K5, both of which featured in the presentations.
The presentations and useful references are now available. Videos of the presentations will be available soon.
Presentations:
- Benefits of rabbit bio-controls to the environment. David Peacock & Graeme Finlayson.
- The economic benefits of rabbit control in Australia. Talia Hardaker.
- RHDV in the field. Pat Taggart & Robyn Hall.
- Easter Bilby – An advocate for rabbit control. Wayne Meyer.
Useful References:
Environmental Impacts
- Finlayson et.al. Recovering Australia’s arid zone ecosystems: learning from continental-scale rabbit control experiments.
- Peacock et.al. Benefits of rabbit biocontrol in Australia: An update.
Economic Impacts
- Cooke et. al. The economic benefits of the biological control of rabbits in Australia, 1950-2011.
- Hardaker & Chudleigh. An evaluation of the impact of RHDV-K5 in Australia.
- McCleod. Cost of pest animals in NSW and Australia.
RHDV
- Taggart et.al. 2021 Changes in virus transmission dynamics following the emergence of RHDV2 shed light on its competitive advantage over previously circulating variants.
- Taggart et. al. 2022. Good intentions with adverse outcomes when conservation and pest management guidelines are ignored: A case study in rabbit biocontrol.
Easter Bilby
- Rabbit-Free Australia. Easter Bilby Fact Sheet.
