Wild rabbit control

Local Land Services provides support and advice to landholders controlling wild rabbits on their land. 

Impact of wild rabbits

Wild rabbits:

• damage crops and pastures
• create significant grazing pressures
• disturb soils, leading to erosion and loss of topsoil
• impact grazing, native flora, horticultural industries, and gardens
• threaten flora species in the region.

Rabbits damage local environments and pose a biosecurity risk by:

• destroying vegetation including lawns, playing fields, natural systems, and agricultural lands
• competing with stock and native animals for food and habitat
• causing erosion, soil loss, destabilising waterway banks, and undermining building foundations.

Control of wild rabbits

Landholders must reduce risks from pest rabbit populations on their land to meet their General Biosecurity Duty. Rabbit control activities include:

• undertaking both primary and supplementary pest animal control
• destroying warrens and known harbour (eg piles of old logs or bricks, dense weed infestation, or clearing under old buildings)
• participating in coordinated pest animal control programs (eg baiting or shooting)
• keeping pet rabbits secure and euthanising unwanted pet rabbits.

On-farm wild rabbit management

Effective rabbit control uses various measures across properties. Landholders must commit to ongoing programs over many years to reduce rabbit populations.

Start by identifying and mapping rabbits' locations and their impact. Discuss concerns with neighbours and gauge rabbit impact they are experiencing.

Monitor for signs of wild rabbits

• Fresh scats.
• Fresh scratching of grass/soil.
• Vegetation chewed to 40cm from the ground.
• Burrowing or worn tracks under structures or debris piles.
• Warrens.

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Video transcript

Know the signs of wild rabbits

G'day, my name's Heidi and I'm a Biosecurity

Officer at the North Coast Local Land Services.

And I help assist landholders in controlling their pest animal.

Like any pest animal, it's really important

that control is taken when you first see the signs.

To do this, you really need to know what to look for.

So let me introduce you to the European Rabbit and

what signs you need to look for on your property.

Did you know that rabbits can start breeding at

four months of age and in favorable conditions,

they can have up to five and six litters,

giving you an extra 50 or 60 rabbits per year.

Rabbits cause significant damage in our agriculture industry, in particular to our

horticulture, grazing and cropping industries.

Rabbits compete with livestock, eating native grasses and improved pastures,

creating a loss of biodiversity on your

property and minimizing your carrying capacities.

Rabbits also compete with native wildlife, grazing right down to the roots.

They ringbark trees, they dig furrows and can cause some real bad soil erosion.

Their extensive digging of rabbit warrens adds to this damage.

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Some of the first signs that you might see would be

diggings, small narrow trenches around trees and plants.

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You might also see burrows around wood

piles, sheds, rocky outcrops and your garden.

Burrows are usually small to medium in size with

droppings at the entrances and they have multiple entrances.

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The scats, they're made up of round piles of small brown pellets.

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You might notice damage to seedlings in your garden or your horticultural crops

and in large numbers, they can certainly defoliate large amounts of crops.

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So if you see signs of rabbits, do your part and report them.

And there are a couple of ways of doing this.

You can either use the Feral Scan website by

uploading photos and noting down what you've seen.

You can download the Feral Scan app onto your phone and report the same.

Or you can simply give us a call and we'll do our

best to advise you on how to control your rabbits.

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Remember pest control is done best over a large area.

So please involve your neighbours and that way you'll

have control of the animals for a longer period of time.

Pest rabbit control techniques

• Baiting with 1080 and Pindone poisoned carrots.
• Biological controls (e.g. myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus).
• Warren destruction.

Discuss joining or starting formalised groups (e.g. Landcare or pest control associations) with neighbours and the community.

Local Land Services provides technical advice but can only coordinate group control programs with five or more adjoining properties involved.

Poison can be purchased, and Local Land Services may have rabbit control equipment for hire for a nominal fee.

Rabbit control decision tool

Need help choosing the best rabbit control method? The rabbit control decision tool is a practical resource to help you choose primary and secondary control measures. Download it to understand the options best suited for your land.

Pest management in your region

We've worked with regional pest animal committees and the community to develop regional strategic pest animal management plans in each of our 11 Local Land Services regions.

Your Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plans will tell you what priority pest animals you need to manage and how.

Regional strategic pest animal management plans