A NZ court has ruled in favour of using 1080 for pest control, over-ruling opposition on animal welfare grounds. The debate is informative to all with an interest in conservation and pest control – including rabbit control, which has long included 1080 in the measures needed for success. For more information, see Science beats superstition […]
Two recent articles suggest that bilbies can persist under low predation levels from feral cats, but the ‘threshold question’ remains open. Is there a threshold cat density above which bilbies can’t survive – and if so, what is it; and does it vary between locations? For more information, see Moseby et, al., (2018) in Austral […]
The TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve at Koonamore is the longest-running vegetation monitoring site of its kind in Australia – and site data is now readily available to researchers. The site has not been grazed by sheep for over 50 years, and has been rabbit-free for over 40 yrs – so there is a wealth of […]
The Victorian Rabbit Action Network is running a training program to help people develop local rabbit control groups, or ‘learning networks’. Participants in the 2.5 day course can apply for a $1,000 grant to support local rabbit control projects. For more information see Leadership in Rabbit Control Course.
An article by Peter Fleming concludes that ‘compassionate conservation’ (an approach focused on the ‘well-being of individual wild animals’) has the capacity to do harm to the cause of conservation in Australia and elsewhere. Referring to the damage rabbits cause to natural ecosystems, and hence the suffering caused to other animals, Peter argues that individuals […]
An article by Michael Bode highlights the importance of fox and cat control for fauna conservation,and muses about how good it would be if methods other than fencing could achieve that. Rabbits must also be considered – as competitors and habitat destroyers – for fauna conservation. The biological control of rabbits has benefited whole landscapes, […]
Bilbies may be more likely to avoid dingoes than cats, if their reaction to dog and cat faeces is anything to go by. Research by the University of NSW conducted in the Arid Recovery Reserve, SA, indicated that bilbies tend to avoid dogs as a result of co-evolution. For more information, see the article from […]
Concerted efforts at rabbit control by the Trust for Nature on their Ned’s Corner property are paying off. The Trust purchased the property west of Mildura fifteen years ago and has been targeting rabbits with a variety of control measures, including spreading RHDV-K5. Land that was once eroded by rabbits is now regenerating – more […]
The historic role of Wardang Island in the development of bio-controls for wild rabbits has been recognized with an update to signage at the Port Victoria jetty. The Island was the primary field trial site for both Myxomatosis and the Calici virus (RHDV). Great to see that history, the role of CSIRO, and the support […]
The Victorian Rabbit Action Network is supporting a Victorian grants program to help with rabbit control. For more information, see the article in The Courier.