Author Archives: Peter Day

The Origins of Easter Bunny

Why Easter Bilby and ‘Bilbies not Bunnies’ are promoted – a great article by RFA Patron, Brian Cooke, in ‘The Conversation’.

New strain of RHDV in SA

A new strain of RHDV (the rabbit calicivirus) is now on the move in South Australia, and researchers want to learn more about it. A blog from the Invasion Ecology Group of the University of Adelaide invites people to let them know of possible occurrences and to provide dead rabbits for examination.

Get them while they’re down

Advice for landholders to control rabbits while their numbers are low after a dry summer. Port Lincoln Times article from Eyre Peninsula NRM

Fewer rabbits > fewer feral predators > more small mammals

Amazing increases in the distribution and occurrence of the dusky hopping mouse, plains mouse and crest-tailed mulgara have been attributed to rabbit control. RHDV suppressed rabbit numbers, reducing competition for food and the pressure from rabbit-dependent predators like cats and foxes. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12684/abstract

Rabbits Running Rife

Great effort by students at Cowra Public School to tell about the impact of rabbits.

Update on release plans for RHDV1 K5

Planning is underway for the release in Australia of a calicvirus strain (RHDV1 K5) which is expected to perform well in cooler, wetter regions. http://http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-12/delayed-release-for-new-calici-strain/7083388?WT.mc_id=newsmail

Rabbits change soil biology

Rabbits change the biology of soils, as well as vegetation – and those changes may be long lasting. http://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/rabbits-leave-mark-soil-long-after-they-are-gone