ElizabethB Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 So, we were studying something that led me to read to the children about the spread and control of rabbits in Australia. Is the environmental damage from them really that bad? They felt sorry for the poor bunnies and I tried to explain about how damaging it can be when a population of animals is out of control; when I lived in Colorado, the deer population was out of control in the area where I was and they ate all the bushes and trees and during bad winters would starve to death, hunting is actually the best control because the meat goes to good use and the deer that remain are healthy. When I left, the deer population was very unhealthy and several thousand over its carrying capacity, for political reasons hunting was very limited, it was limited to around 100 deer per year which did not get the deer population to a good size for the area. Also, did they really give the bunnies several viruses including one that sounds like bunny Ebola? And, do your pets have vaccines against them? It is an interesting topic to me and I am not aware of which Australian news and organizations are good balanced sources. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Not a farmer so I may not have accurate information here but I think the rabbit virus was a one time thing. The two main viruses being myxamatosis and RHD ( bunny ebola ). The first was introduced in the 1950's and was very effective however over the years the rabbits started becoming immune and in 1995 the second was introduced. It is a rabbit specific virus so isn't passed to other animals...so no...our pets are not vaccinated against it. In fact, in the 1950's the general public were worried about it passing to humans and two scientists actually injected themselves with it and had no ill effects. Rabbits were an introduced animal from Europe..not native to Australia. Thus when they became feral they had no natural predators or diseases to control their population and they became a plague. Basically...one of the answers to the problem was to reintroduce their natural population controls...including diseases. I am aware they used this method but it isn't given much thought here except as an environmental subject in school..you aren't going to find it in the news etc. Try this site www.rabbitfreeaustralia.org.au Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I was given a pet rabbit for a birthday when I was a kid and it died of myxo within a month. :crying: I have no idea whether there are vaccines for pets or not. Yes the environmental damage is that bad. They outbreed other native mammals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Rabbits are not native to the UK either - they were introduced by the Romans and probably again by the Normans, after which time they escaped and went feral. Since I've been in Scotland, our area has had myxomatosis several times - the rabbits get sick and disappear for a while, but then some resistant rabbits breed and come back. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Time magazine had an article about America's feral animal problems. I don't remember if it spoke to Australian feral rabbits or not, but it is a good article on the problems of invasive species. It was the cover story in December 2013. Where I live, the deer population is a major problem and, while I hate to think of deer dying simply because they are too prolific, I do believe it is necessary and more humane to cull them intentionally than having thousands of them dead on the roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 The rabbit diseases seem to be on the decline as there is a massive breed up of rabbits and hares here. Yes it is that bad. They are very destructive. Also even native species breed to a point where they are problematic. Kangaroos increase their breeding frequency with any increase in water. Because of all the access to farm dams and man made water supplies they now increase in numbers beyond their natural cycle. Australia also has problems with feral goats, deer, cats, pigs, camels, wild dogs that have interbred with dingoes and foxes. Though some farmers see the goats as opportunities because they can trap them and sell them overseas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 So, it's safe to say that rabbits in Australia are like kudzu in America, right? But furrier. And with fewer leaves. Australia also has problems with feral goats, deer, cats, pigs, camels, wild dogs that have interbred with dingoes and foxes. It's astonishing how well those herbivores survive, given that Australia is kinda a death trap. Don't you have a bajillion species of highly venomous snake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Um the snakes might worry the mice maybe... Most snakes here seem to have a you stay away from me and I'll stay away from you policy. I have seen maybe two wild venomous snakes in about 7 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have seen maybe two wild venomous snakes in about 7 years. I have seen zero wild venomous snakes in my entire lifetime. Other deadly animals I have not seen: a. spiders b. sharks c. highly venomous jellyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I always think that the deadly creatures of other places seem scarier than the deadly creatures of your own environment. I don't think much about copperheads and brown recluses, for example. I can't bring myself to feel bad about the rabbits. Big picture animal compassion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have seen zero wild venomous snakes in my entire lifetime. Other deadly animals I have not seen: a. spiders b. sharks c. highly venomous jellyfish Hmmm. Fascinating. I always think of Australian poisonous creatures as terrifying, yet I do see venomous snakes and spiders her in the humble Mid-Atlantic. We see water moccasins and Copperheads at least once every summer and I spot a Black Widow or Brown Recluse spider once in a blue moon. The real insidious threat around here is Lyme Disease, so I would say ticks are the most hated of our threatening creatures here. Plus Poison Ivy. God, how I hate that Ivy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Hmmm. Fascinating. I always think of Australian poisonous creatures as terrifying, yet I do see venomous snakes and spiders her in the humble Mid-Atlantic. We see water moccasins and Copperheads at least once every summer and I spot a Black Widow or Brown Recluse spider once in a blue moon. The real insidious threat around here is Lyme Disease, so I would say ticks are the most hated of our threatening creatures here. Plus Poison Ivy. God, how I hate that Ivy! Oh, that's true. I am a little terrified of Lyme. It's so endemic here now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 The rabbits here don't have very many predators (especially where the foxes are also baited), so their numbers can increase ridiculously quickly. Many of the population control programs employed in various parks are more about humane culling (baiting or gassing warrens), rather than allowing a population to go into overshoot and become diseased, as some of the diseases are slow and painful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I will take a handful of snakes here and there over tick borne disease any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Awww, I love seeing bunnies hop around the yard. Sorry for not adding anything useful. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-10/feral-cats-tear-through-last-wild-bilby-population/5803252 Link from today's news about feral cats and bilbies if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I read a book in high school called Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence. I came across it by random; it had been left in my airplane seat. It has very little to do with the rabbit situation in Australia. But it did bring that to my attention. And also the history account of forced removal of indigenous children - wow. I knew it had happened in North America but hadn't realized it had elsewhere, too. But really, fascinating what we humans do. To each other, to (feral) animals ... I find it/them to be fascinating topic(s), too! Feral pigs. That's what did damage where I grew up. Fugly little things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jobos12 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got curious, and ended up watching some Youtube videos about the rabbits on Macquarie Island - technically part of Australia, but not the mainland. I can't work out how to link directly, but I watched 'Macquarie Island rats rabbits and cats' from Tasmania Screened (original show from our national broadcaster, the ABC), and then one called 'The sad saga of Macquarie island' from GOOD news - no idea who it is, but it did explain the whole situation pretty well. The videos said that the rabbits destroyed the nesting burrows of the native animals, they ate all the plants and caused soil erosion. And totally agree that animals from somewhere else are scarier - I grew up on the west coast of Australia, where redback spiders were common and Funnelweb spiders didn't exist. Now, I live on the East coast, and think it's funny that people are frightened of redbacks while being quite nervous of Funnelwebs myself! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 So, we were studying something that led me to read to the children about the spread and control of rabbits in Australia. Is the environmental damage from them really that bad? When myx was first introduced in the 1950's the disease killed 99% of rabbits it infected. Within the two years following.. Australia's meat and wool production increased by 68 million dollars. So yes they do have a high environmental impact. Landowners have a legal responsibility to control rabbits on their land because they are classed as pests. I don't think Australian snakes are big enough to eat rabbits regularly. We are talking rabbits the size of cats here not tiny little pet bunnies. Plus I imagine a rabbit would be hard for a snake to catch unless the rabbit accidently sat on it LOL. If there were enough snakes in Australia to control the rabbit population I would be high tailing it to another country with the rest of the population LOL. Times I've seen a wild rabbit in Australia..hundreds Times I've seen a snake (any type and I live in the country) ...zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 My dd would love a bunny. But here in Queensland there is a $44,000 fine for having one! Unless you are a magician then you can own one. So we have guinea pigs instead. :-D I know its off the topic but wanted to be included in an Aussie thread. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isabella Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 My father in law can remember a time when you could look out over a paddock at dusk and it looked like a hill was moving, it was so covered with rabbits. Anecdotal, of course, but I think the plague of that time was fairly bad. Also, I don't really know a great deal about the history of the rabbit proof fence, but I guess it was built for a reason. I must look up some info about it now that my curiosity has been piqued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Down south in NZ we have an Easter Bunny hunt annually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 My dd would love a bunny. But here in Queensland there is a $44,000 fine for having one! Unless you are a magician then you can own one. So we have guinea pigs instead. :-D I was absolutely tickled when, up near Lightening Ridge, I found a sign saying that. My brother collects photos of funny signs and drove up there himself to get a pic of it. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 I was absolutely tickled when, up near Lightening Ridge, I found a sign saying that. My brother collects photos of funny signs and drove up there himself to get a pic of it. :lol: Pretty extreme, hey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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