Over the years Council has undertaken baiting programs annually to try and maintain feral rabbit populations at acceptable levels, the most widely used method being the use of Pindone poison.

Fertility control

Trials overseas on rabbits have been unsuccessful for anything longer than one to two breeding seasons. Given that rabbits can breed every 30 days, this is not very long. The fertility control methods have been based on antagonistic hormones that need to be transmitted somehow to ensure they reach the target within the animal e.g. by virus or direct inoculation. A further problem is that in populations where females have been sterilised, the juveniles and adults live much longer than in control populations; thus continuing to do damage for some time.

The rabbit control program

Current methods of control include biological controls, poison baiting, trapping, exclusion fencing, harbour destruction and warren fumigation.

Pittwater Council has devised its rabbit control program based on the Rabbit Management Plan for the Urban Feral Animal Action Group-Sydney North, for which it is a member along with the Rural Lands Protection Board, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Forests Australia, Taronga Zoo, Sydney Harbour Federation Trusts and the northern councils.

According to the Rabbit Management Plan, Pindone baiting is one of the preferred methods available for rabbit control in urban situations. Shooting is also a useful method but is limited in areas it can be applied due to concerns for public safety. Trapping is also used by Council as and adjunct to baiting but is inadequate as a method on its own. Biological controls such as Myxomatosis and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease have been used in the past and naturally affect a percentage of rabbits. However, it has previously been shown that Sydney populations are largely resistant to these diseases.

Pindone poison

Faeces from rabbits that have eaten Pindone poison bait is not lethal to dogs and all the advice received suggests that it would not make them sick either. An average Kelpie dog would require 6-12  whole rabbits which had recently eaten the maximal intake of bait in one sitting to receive a lethal dose. Alternatively they would have to eat smaller amounts regularly for a period of several weeks. As the baits are layed on only three occasions and unused baits picked up afterwards, it is unlikely that a dog would be affected.

The digestion and break-down time of the poison in a live rabbit is very rapid. A dog would need to eat the rabbits within 4 hours of the rabbits eating and would have to eat the gut contents, which has been advised, they often leave behind. Poison break down time in dead rabbits is slower and for this reason, the contractor laying the baits is required to check for carcasses during and for a period up to 14 days post baiting.

Safety to non-target animals

Safety to humans and other non-target animals has been considered, hence the extensive notification and care with placement of baits to avoid drawing attention to them. Humans need a dose of approximately one hundred times that of a rabbit to cause death. The baits do not look attractive to children, having the appearance not dissimilar to vomit but dyed green, which also reduces their attractiveness to birds. In any case, baits are hidden or placed away from children’s play areas.

Free feeding occurs at the beginning of the program and sites are monitored for non-target animal uptake. If native animals are thought to be eating the baits, the bait is sited elsewhere. Monitoring continues throughout the program.