Rabbit control
Author: PIRSA
Stock Journal Article - January 2024
Introduced in the 1800s, European rabbits quickly spread across Australia causing severe and widespread damage. Today, their impacts threaten over 300 native species and cost the agricultural sector $200 million annually.
Rabbits cause a variety of issues, including:
- constructing warrens that cause soil erosion
- facilitating the spread of invasive weeds
- creating grazing pressure and competition with livestock for resources
- directly affecting yields by grazing on crops and forestry saplings
- competing with native herbivores for resources
- providing an important food resource for feral cats and foxes
In South Australia, landholders are responsible for the control of rabbits on their properties. Control tools include biological controls, baiting, and targeting warrens by ripping, fumigating, or blasting. The best results are achieved when control programs are coordinated among neighbours and multiple control tools are used and timed for maximum impact.
A properly timed release of calicivirus, at the start of summer or in autumn, can be a highly effective means for controlling rabbits. The success of the release relies on suitable environmental conditions and most young rabbits (kittens) being weaned. These factors will enable the virus to persist longer, are associated with the presence of blowflies that transmit the virus, and will minimise the risk of kittens developing immunity. The current available strain of calicivirus (RHDV K5) is highly localised in its effects, so it is important to coordinate multiple releases with your neighbours to deliver landscape-scale outcomes. Follow up control activities, including baiting and warren destruction, will ensure generational impacts to your rabbit populations. To discuss releasing calicivirus on your property in autumn 2024 contact your local Landscape board.
Poison baits containing 1080 or pindone are an effective control tool for large properties. With your local Landscape Board Officer, baiting programs can be coordinated with neighbouring properties to attain size requirements of at least 1,000 m2 for pindone and 50,000 m2 for 1080 programs. Typically, the toxins are mixed with carrots or oats and laid during seasons when few other food resources are available. In South Australia, baiting is most effective in summer and should be coordinated with other controls (e.g. following release of virus) for maximum effect. Contact your local Landscape Board to determine the type and timing for rabbit baiting on your property.
Rabbits are highly dependent on warrens for breeding, shelter, and survival; destroying this vital resource will deter rabbits from recolonising areas following other controls. Several warren control tools are available for different conditions. Warren ripping is the most common and affordable method; a tractor or bulldozer fitted with tines is used to destroy warrens by deep mechanical ripping. In inaccessible areas (such as in scrub or steep rocky terrain) fumigation or blasting will be more appropriate than ripping. Warren fumigation involves pumping toxic fumes into the warren where they are inhaled by rabbits, leading to their death. Similarly, warren blasting involves pumping flammable gasses into the warren, the gases are ignited to cause instant death and collapse of the system. Both fumigation and blasting are labour intensive and costly. All warren control techniques should be enacted when rabbit numbers are low after baiting or a virus release, they are generally ineffective if used in isolation.
It is important to use all available control tools in a way that is methodical, sequenced, and coordinated among neighbours to ensure the best results from your rabbit control efforts.
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