31st Newsletter Available

The real story behind Easter Bunny, latest grants from Rabbit-Free Australia, or an update on calicivirus – no matter what your interest there is something for you in RFA’s 31st Newsletter, which is now available for public viewing: View it on-line, or Download a PDF

Modelling virus transmission

Modelling virus transmission in a population is nothing new for researchers assisted be Rabbit-Free Australia in their work on wild rabbits. Similar models are also used by ecologists exploring predator/prey relationships. As the world responds to COVID-19, ecologists Charley Krebs and Judy Meyers have penned a ‘blog’ on some of the challenges of modelling complex […]

Latest Rabbit-Free Newsletter

The 31st Newsletter from Rabbit-Free Australia is now available. It has been sent to all Foundation members and is available for on-line viewing. If you would like to support the Foundation in raising awareness and supporting research, a membership form (and a donation option) can be found at the website.

Long term benefits from rabbit control.

The long term benefits of rabbit control are likely to outweigh the short term costs for native species affected by ‘prey-switching’, is the conclusion of a recent New Zealand study. The research examined the effects of rabbit control on ferrets (an invasive predator) and alternative prey species. It found that after rabbits were controlled, ferret […]

Plans to register RHDV2 for controlled release.

The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) hopes to register RHDV2 as a biological rabbit control by 2023. The form of rabbit calicivirus appeared in Australia from overseas in 2015, just ahead of the controlled release of calicivirus RHDV1-K5 in 2017. Since then, RHDV2 has been responsible for the death of nearly half the rabbits […]

Post Fire Rabbit Management.

Post-fire field conditions can be an opportunity to control wild rabbits. Warrens may be exposed, and it is timely to remove rabbits before they retard the regrowth of vegetation and influence which species recover and which don’t. The Victorian Rabbit Action Network present a guide for rabbit control in fire-affected landscapes in the Feb. 2020 […]

MacQuarie Island Rabbit-Free.

MacQuarie Island has been declared rabbit-free and rodent-free after a seven year eradication program. The achievement is of global significance because never before have rabbits, rats and mice all been eradicated from an island as big as MacQuarie at the same time. For more information, see the ABC News article by Laura Beavis and Linda […]

Rabbits – part of modern environmental problems.

Rabbits are as relevant to modern problems like climate change and bushfire recovery, as they are to traditional challenges of vegetation loss, erosion and ecological disruption. In areas recovering from drought or bushfire, now is the time to act. According to a PestSmart article, examination of the damage caused by wild rabbits and other feral […]

Using ‘wicked’ social science to control rabbits.

The Victorian Rabbit Action Network (VRAN) has been internationally acclaimed as a successful rabbit management program. Two recent social science papers describe their approach and some of the theory behind it. Key points: The Victorian Rabbit Action Network: Moved away from a top-down, regulatory (roles-based) approach. Defined rabbit management as a ‘wicked problem’ needing a […]

Rabbit ancestry may influence susceptibility to disease.

Wild rabbits in Australia lie in six genetic clusters, most likely reflecting different sources of introduction. It raises the question of whether their differing genetics influences their susceptibility to infection by diseases such as RHDV. In work funded by RabbitFree Australia, Dr Amy Iannella did some investigating; discovering that of 135 resistance genes tested, only […]