Rabbit Warren Mapping in North Canberra Nature Park
Project Information Session

Thursday, 12 November 2009, 6.00 to 7.00pm
Meet at Philip Avenue nature park entrance gate in Hackett,
car parking at Kellaway Street
Wear sturdy shoes and bring something to write.

Hear about the project,
Learn to identify active warrens,
Register for a free GPS training session, and
Adopt a mapping site.

For enquiries and to register your interest as a rabbit mapper, please contact the FoMM coordinator at Email: admin@majura.org or Phone: 62477515.

Download this poster for distribution.

In 2008 Friends of Mount Majura successfully lobbied the ACT Government to allocate funds for rabbit control in the Mount Ainslie and Mount Majura nature reserves and the woodlands of Justice Robert Hope Park in North Watson. Control work was carried out from autumn to winter 2009 following the mapping of warrens by volunteers in summer 2008/09. Parks, Conservation and Lands (PCL) plans a follow-up rabbit control program for Summer 2009/10 and volunteers are invited to participate in a second round of mapping warrens. Volunteers will receive free training in the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and an introduction on how to identify active rabbit warrens in the field.

Rabbit signs – view photos of the impact caused by rabbits on Mount Majura.

Learn more about rabbits

http://www.feral.org.au/feral_documents/Managing_Vertebrate_Pests_Rabbits.pdf

This document provides a summary of rabbit reseach and control (1.3Mb)

http://www.invasiveanimals.com/invasive-animals/rabbits/index.html

The rabbit threat

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was deliberately released in Australia in the mid to late 1800s. Land degradation by rabbits is listed as a key threatening process under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. In 2008 the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts released a Threat Abatement Plan for competition and land degradation by rabbits.

Rabbits pose a threat to a large number of native flora and fauna species. Their effect on fauna can be direct such as increasing competition for food or indirect such as denuding vegetation and thus exposing native fauna to increased predation. The loss of ground cover vegetation and the digging lead to erosion and to the spread of weeds not grazed by rabbits.

In the past years visitors to the north Canberra nature reserves noticed a significant increase in rabbit numbers. Volunteers who mapped the rabbit warrens in summer 2008/09 found an average of 1.9 rabbit warrens per hectare and an average of 2.5 warrens per hectare in the Majura horse paddocks, some with more than ten entrances (view a report and a map with locations of rabbit warrens mapped in 2008/09).

The vast number of rabbits associated with the recorded warrens has a devastating impact on the endangered Yellow box Red gum grassy woodlands and the fauna that depend on the plants for food and shelter. At an assessment walk with Australia’s rabbit expert Dr. Brian Cooke of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre at the University of Canberra, participants recognised the telling signs of rabbit presence such as buck heaps (male latrines), scratch marks, browsing lines, and rabbit specific damage to woody species. The most telling sign however was the lack of young native trees and shrubs and the loss of ground cover vegetation. Dr. Brian Cooke cited a study that showed that it takes only one rabbit per hectare to prevent regeneration of many native plant species.

It will take a continuous commitment of Government and community to keep the rabbits at a low level to halt and reverse the decline of our remnant woodlands so that future generations can enjoy what’s left of Australia’s unique wildlife.