https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk By Brayden Crowther en-us 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC 2025-06-28 22:08:33 UTC hello@padlet.com brayden_crowther_00 https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336182 rabbit control requires integration of different methods; any single technique used in isolation is useless if not carefully combined with two or more techniques. When reliance is placed on one technique and follow-up control is not implemented, the rabbits will quickly recolonise in the absence of further control. Current techniques available for controlling rabbits can be categorised broadly as biological, chemical and mechanical. Biological control for rabbits has been particularly effective. Biological controls include the myxoma virus causing the disease myxomatosis, which only affects rabbits. Released in 1950, the virus initially killed over 90 per cent of feral rabbits that caught the disease, but some developed resistance, making the pathogen less effective. However, the myxomatosis disease still keeps populations to an average of five per cent of former population sizes in wetter areas, and 25 per cent in arid areas. The other important biological control is the rabbit calicivirus disease (rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus) which has proved more effective in wetter parts of the country than in drier regions. Australia currently has only one strain of calicivirus which is relatively stable and rabbits are developing genetic resistance to infection. Research is being undertaken to identify new field strains to release in Australia. The main chemical control used for rabbits is the poison; sodium flouroacetate (1080) an effective toxin providing a high mortality rate of up to 90 per cent. Pressure fumigation or diffusion fumigation using toxins like chloropicrin and carbon monoxide are used to kill rabbits while they are in their warrens. Destruction of warrens and above-ground harbours is the most widely used mechanical method for rabbit control. Warren ripping can be a costeffective and efficient method for suppressing rabbit numbers and inhibiting reinvasion of the treated area, because it deprives rabbits of a safe place for breeding. Other methods used less widely are fencing, shooting, trapping and explosives to destroy warrens. Researchers are also looking at ways to improve traditional feral rabbit control techniques, and to ensure that control is applied in a strategic way that achieves targeted, sustained results. There is a community expectation that all animals, including pests are to be treated humanely. Therefore, animal welfare issues must be an important consideration when planning rabbit control operations ]]> 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336182 brayden_crowther_00 https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336183 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336183 brayden_crowther_00 https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336184  Feral rabbits compete with native wildlife, they damage vegetation, degrade the land, they ringbark trees and shrubs, and prevent regeneration by eating seeds and seedlings. Their impact is the worst during drought and immediately after a fire, when there food is scarce and they eat whatever they can. Feral rabbits could have caused the extinction of several small ground-dwelling mammals of Australia’s deserts, and have increse the decline of many native plants and animals. A group of feral rabbits and goats reduced Philip Island to bedrock, leaving at least two plants extinct on Phillip Island. Feral rabbits even threaten seabirds such as Gould’s petrel. ]]> 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336184 brayden_crowther_00 https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336185  Feral rabbits can be found in many of the different climates in Australia, that range from deserts to coastal areas, wherever there is suitable soil for digging. There are not a lot in areas with clay soils and lots in areas with soils that are deep and sandy, such as in the north-east of South Australia. In desert areas, feral rabbits need access to water, but most other climates they can obtain enough moisture from their food. Feral rabbits are night-time grazers, preferring green grass and herbs. They also dig below grasses to reach roots and seeds. During the breeding season, feral rabbits form territorial groups made up of one to three males with up to seven females, led by a dominant pair. After breeding, the groups break up again, except for the dominant pair. Feral rabbits can breed from the age of four months, and can do so at any time of the year, expecially when the food is in good supply. In good conditions, they can produce five or more litters in a year, with four or five babies in each litter. Even in bad conditions, they can produce one or two litters a year.]]> 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336185 brayden_crowther_00 https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336186  Domesticated rabbits arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. Feral rabbits were reported in Tasmania as early as 1827. Thomas Austin freed about a dozen on his property near Geelong, Victoria, in 1859. The rabbits reached the Queensland – New South Wales border by 1886 and covered where they are today by 1910. This was despite the Western Australian Government’s 1700 kilometre rabbit-proof fence, built between 1901 and 1907. ]]> 2017-06-14 02:01:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brayden_crowther_00/176cdtuctcqk/wish/176336186