Eradication of rabbits from landscape scale exclosures: pipedream or possibility?

Abstract

Summary High densities of the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were eradicated from 60 km2 of the Arid Recovery Reserve between 1996 and 2001. Eradication was possible due to an initial knockdown caused by rabbit haemorrhagic disease, followed by effective exclusion fencing, broadscale poison baiting, targeted shooting, warren destruction and trapping on rabbit burrows and buckheaps. The efficacy of different broadscale control and intensive rabbit eradication techniques was subsequently estimated in a 26 km2 expansion to the Reserve from 2002 to 2006. Non-target implications of these control techniques were also assessed where possible. An estimated 8000 rabbits were removed in total from both areas and results suggest that rabbit eradication is possible at a landscape scale. Strategies for eliminating rabbits from confined areas are suggested.