Introduced from Europe for hunting, recreation and food, rabbits and hares have now overstayed their welcome. Rabbits, the fastest spreading vertebrate pest species in Australia’s history have defied all attempts at eradication. Having survived every form of control in over 100 years, as a species, the rabbit appears here to stay.
Rabbits On My Hobby Farm
Utilized as a source of food, skins and felt, rabbits have helped people survive tough economic times. But, due to population explosions in suitable seasons, rabbits are now classified as one of the most serious pest species in Australia.
Thankfully rabbits are a small problem on my farm where numbers seem to increase in spring, but tend to decrease by late summer.
Predators And Biological Controls
Predators such as foxes regularly visit the farm helping to control numbers. Unfortunately for foxes, they also like attacking chickens, young sheep as well as native animals – so most farmers kill foxes.
Biological controls such as Myxomatosis and Calicivirus tend to reduce rabbit numbers during summer and autumn – when mosquito carriers of these diseases are prevalent – but rabbits are developing resistance. Hares are immune to these viruses.
Attacks On Young Plants
Around the farm there is enough vegetation and moisture to support rabbits and hares without them having to go to extremes – ringbarking trees and shrubs as a source of food and water.
They do however appear to take delight in nipping the foliage from young plants. Plastic guards are able to deter most attacks long enough to allow young vegetation to survive the first critical years.
Protecting Plants Against Rabbits And Hares
When rabbits and hares have a strong attraction for a particular plant, a smelly animal based fertilizer such as blood and bone or fresh chicken manure helps as a deterrent – encouraging them to move on.
Valuable plantings such as date palms are surrounded with wire netting when young.
Filling Rabbit Holes
Rabbits seek shelter in burrows, protecting social groups from predators as well as providing relief from climatic extremes. A breeding pair of rabbits can produce 30 young or kittens within a year, allowing them to quickly repopulate areas that have been cleared, bringing back the same problems.
Stepping into rabbit holes is an easy way to injure an ankle or damage machinery – when noticed these are promptly filled with soil. One hard-working rabbit didn’t take kindly to having its future home regularly filled, by digging it out the next evening. A few rocks placed in the hole helped this determined individual come to realise it was fighting a losing battle.
Nature Of Hares
Hares, up to two times larger than rabbits, and easily distinguished by their black tipped ears, do not dig burrows but rest in small depressions within vegetation called “forms”. Living mostly solitary lives, except when mating, they are less of a problem compared to rabbits, but if populations are large they can also cause significant damage.
Adapted to outrun predators, hares have powerful hind legs and relatively large hearts giving them staying power in a race. A couple of hares when disturbed make an entertaining distraction as they speed into the distance.
Serious Pest Species In Australia
No doubt, at some stage in the future, scientific research will come up with more effective ways to stabilize their populations below that of a serious pest. Until this happens hares and rabbits, following their innate nature will always be a rural concern.
When this happens, rabbits and hares need not be hunted, trapped or poisoned, becoming once again, welcome guests in our country.