Unholy trinity – rabbits, cats and foxes

In a recent contribution to The Conversation, Associate Professor Katherine Moseby (UNSW) refers to rabbits, cats and foxes as an unholy trinity. Rabbits competed with native mammals for food and became food themselves for cats and foxes – inflating predator numbers and adding to the predation of native mammals. Katherine has over 25 years of […]

Rabbits reduce albatross breeding success

Long term monitoring on Macquarie Island has shown that when rabbit populations were high the probability of albatross breeding dropped by one to two thirds. The studies also revealed a web of interactions between cats, rabbits, vegetation and albatrosses. Data collected between 1995 and 2014 showed that rabbit numbers increased when feral cats were removed […]

Rabbits, cats and prey-switching.

Over abundant rabbit populations lead to high densities of feral cats – and a correspondingly high impact of cats on native species, especially small mammals. What happens when rabbit numbers drop? Research to see if cats prey-switch (eat more small mammals) or if their numbers drop instead (not impacting native animals) has concluded that: Cat […]

Is the future fenced?

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, […]

Prey-switching research planned at Roxby

Hugh McGregor is planning to study how cats and foxes respond to the arrival of RHDV2 at the Arid recovery research site at Roxby Downs, in terms of their numbers and diet. For more information see the Arid Recovery News.