Rabbits are the biggest threat to Australia’s native species. Why are their numbers booming again? — SkimNews
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- Centre for Invasive Species Solutions director Dr John Virtue reports rabbit numbers are rising across southern WA, suburban Canberra, peri-urban Adelaide, the NSW Riverina and southern Queensland after the wet winter
- Rabbits negatively affect 329 threatened Australian species — more than any other invasive pest — with the current population estimated at 200 million and agricultural losses of $200m a year (2020-2021)
- Albany, southern WA has seen rabbits at "plague levels" invading farms and a golf course where up to 30 rabbits gather each evening on the greens, with staff battling to fill burrows
- Calicivirus accidentally escaped Wardang Island quarantine in 1995 and cut arid-zone rabbit numbers by up to 95%; in July the government announced a new program to develop updated viral strains as resistance builds
- Peri-urban Adelaide around Mount Barker has become a rabbit breeding reservoir — thermal cameras show dozens of rabbits on sporting grounds after dusk, professional shooters bag 100+ per night, and poison sales have risen fivefold in four years
- Prof Katherine Moseby of UNSW warns the calicivirus's original release caused "probably the biggest recovery of threatened species ever seen in Australia," underscoring what is at stake if new controls fail
Why it matters: Australia's two biological-control viruses — myxoma and calicivirus — are losing effectiveness as rabbits develop resistance, forcing a fresh $200m-a-year agricultural-burden species back into the landscape just as new viral strains are years from deployment. With no formal population monitoring, the true rabbit number is unknown, meaning landholders, conservation groups and peri-urban councils are fighting blind.
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