Rabbits change entire ecosystems from the bottom up, and a couple of recent articles provide great examples of this, demonstrating how interconnected our environment is. It all starts with rabbits eating native vegetation; often very selectively taking out seedlings of the tastiest species. They are so good at this that they can completely prevent the […]
Medical doctor and scientist, Dame Jean Macnamara, is credited with making Myxomatosis the great success story of biological control and applied science that it is. It wouldn’t have happened without her perseverance, and now the ABC is sharing her story, that of others who also worked to establish Myxomatosis, and the success that followed. It […]
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 […]
Successive biological controls for rabbits have been the most important factor in the recovery of sand dunes along the Coorong in South Australia. Researchers from Flinders University have recorded peaks in vegetation regrowth and dune stabilisation coinciding with various biological controls, ranging from myxomatosis (1952) and the rabbit flea (1968), to RHDV (in 1995 and […]
Rabbit Free Australia is a proud sponsor of a unique book about rabbits, and rabbit research, in Australia. ‘Those Wild Rabbits – How They Shaped Australia’, authored by writer and conservationist Bruce Munday, tells the tale of the European wild rabbit in Australia through the eyes of those associated with it. The book highlights the damage […]
Notes about the history of rabbits and biocontrols in Australia have been uploaded to the PestSmart website. For more information see the Key Facts.
A great booklet full of information about the selection of RHDV1 K5 as a new biological control for rabbits in Australia has been produced by the Invasive Animals CRC. The booklet also sets out how landholders can involved in the release of the virus, and gives some history of rabbits and former control measures in Australia.
RHDV1 has been used as a bio-agent for rabbit control in Australia since 1996. A new virus, RHDV2, has now been found in NSW, Victoria and SA. For more information see the Update from the Invasive Animals CRC.