Thread: New Rabbit virus to be introduced next Autumn

Some of you are apparently quite oblivious to the damage that rabbits are doing..

This isn't about your average small block with a dozen rabbits chewing a bit of grass and molesting the lettuces.. This is about hundreds of thousands of hectares right up the spine of the south island where the rabbits are still constantly at work in their millions turning anything green into bare rock and soil, perhaps irreversibly. I have seen the damage and it is immense and ongoing.

There is a reason these stations are employing rabbiters, or dropping $50-150k in poison every 3 years.. and it's not because they've got too much money, or because they're trying to do you out of your evening shoot of a dozen rabbits once a month. It's a significant and very necessary battle for the ongoing viability of the land and their livelihoods.

If this virus worked to full potential, that 30% drop in numbers every few generations could make a big difference to the land and ability to control them. It's never going to get every rabbit, so don't worry about that. Instead of seeing 10 rabbits, you might see 7. For you - not a difference. For the guy trying to feed his sheep on a station shared with 25 thousand rabbits.. might make all the difference.