Rabbit biocontrol has had dramatic and widespread benefits to Australian agriculture and environment for 60 years, with benefits estimated at over $70 billion. For 20 years only one type of virulent RHDV has been circulating in Australia, to which some populations of rabbits started to develop genetic resistance. Since 2014, with the detection of two exotic virulent RHDVs, and the coordinated release of the RHDV1 K5 strain, there are now four virulent strains of RHDV present in Australia’s rabbit population. This increasing genetic diversity poses challenges as well as opportunities.
Unfortunately, there is never likely to be a silver bullet in rabbit management. We know from monitoring studies that the best response is an ongoing one, ensuring that new rabbit biocontrol agents can be released on a regular basis to counteract reduced effectiveness of existing agents due to increasing immunity and genetic resistance. In addition, boosts to existing controls add to their effectiveness, particularly through a horses-for-courses type approach. As such, rabbit management is not about one-off applications of solutions but regular, community-based approaches drawing from a pipeline of new, existing and evolving solutions.
Commenced