Did you know that rabbits are increasing global warming? According to a recent study in North-West Victoria rabbit browsing on native seedlings has resulted in the failure of woodlands to regenerate naturally.

The study found that the continual destruction of Pine-Buloke woodland seedlings by rabbits is instrumental in preventing carbon sequestration (collecting or trapping carbon from the atmosphere) across hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in North-West Victoria. Rabbit numbers need to be extremely low - less than one rabbit per hectare for successful regeneration. A recent assessment of rabbit numbers in the Mallee indicated that rabbits were beginning a resurgence with current population estimates of 1.3 rabbits per hectare at monitoring sites.

Effective rabbit control at just one monitoring site could allow shrub and tree regeneration across 30,000 hectares which has the potential to sequester between 50 - 100 tonnes of carbon per hectare over a 30 year period. The cost of rabbit control is estimated to be as little as $30-50 per hectare including on-going maintenance.

Thomas Austin introduced rabbits to Australia in 1859 for hunting purposes. With no natural predators and litters of five or more kittens up to seven times a year, rabbits quickly became a problem across Australia. As rabbit numbers reached the hundreds of millions, vegetation was stripped of leaves and bark, killing plants and leaving the soil vulnerable to erosion. Farmers and scientists have employed many control methods over time, including ripping and fumigating warrens, trapping, shooting, baiting and introducing biological control agents such as myxomatosis and calicivirus. Effective rabbit control requires the integrated use of all these techniques.

Adapted from information provided by Brett Harrison, Department of Primary Industries

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