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According to a recent on-line article in The Australian, less than 30 introduced European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus are thought to remain on Macquarie Island, scene of a major pest-eradication exercise this year.

Rabbits, introduced to ‘Macca' in about 1877 as a food source for sealers, had increased before the eradication programme to an estimated 100 000 - 150 000.

The article, along with a four-minute video clip, gives a good idea of what hunting the remaining rabbits with specially-trained dogs is like.  Twelve specially trained hunting dogs and 14 human hunters, six of whom double as dog-handlers, have divided the island into six hunting sections.  Each block is patrolled two hunters, one of whom is also a dog handler with one or two dogs.  "Their task will be to search their block for any sign of rabbits and deal with those that they find.  Once we find them, we can trap, we can fumigate burrows, we can use firearms and we can use other poisons - small-scale, localised poisoning targeting specific rabbits."

Good news is that there are still no reports of rats or mice following the poison-bait drop this winter.

Click here to read earlier reports of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Program in ACAP Latest News.  See also "This Week at Macquarie" which has the news that so far five rabbits have been killed since the bait drop.

Justine Shaw on Macquarie Island
Photograph by Aleks Terauds

With thanks to Ian Hay for information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 September 2011