They are fluffy, cute, and devastating to agriculture. Jono Edwards of the Otago Daily Times examines Otago's rabbit problem and asks if there is any solution.
Otago's problems with the long-eared grey/brown menace - the rabbit - began as early as the 1830s, when colonists brought them to New Zealand shores for food and sport.
They quickly realised their mistake as the pests spread and destroyed crops nationwide.
In the 1860s they became established between Invercargill and Riverton, and were devastating crops all over the south by the early 1880s.
Over the next century powers were given to locally-elected rabbit boards to manage the problem, funded by land owners and the Government.
Moving forward to today, infestations in many areas are as bad as they ever were.
In the last few years parts of Otago have been plagued - Central Otago, Queenstown Lakes, Waitaki and the Otago Peninsula, particularly.
Otago Regional Council monitoring shows some sites in Cromwell, Roxburgh and Milton have had low rabbit numbers for the last five years.
In comparison, rabbit numbers in Luggate skyrocketed to 27 rabbits persqkm in night counts last year, up from 8.6 in 2006, and near Tarras night count numbers increased to 17.9 from 9.6 in the same time.
Their management is not centralised, and they overrun the countryside.
So what can be done?
Shooting
Guns remain at the centre of rabbit control.
Earnscleugh station owner Alistair Campbell has waged war on rabbits for nearly 40 years.
He has hired a full-time rabbiter on his 20,000ha property near Alexandra for many years.
They hailed it as knocking down the population, but the rabbits bounced back.
The Otago Regional Council released a Korean variant of the virus known as RHDV 1 "K5'' in March 2018, and boasted a 47 per cent drop in rabbit numbers earlier this year.
This was questioned by some farmers and councillors, as previous results the council provided were gleaned by taking the percentage decrease over monitored areas and averaging them, rather than counting the total decrease in rabbit numbers.
The decline was also highly site-specific, ranging from no difference to an 80 per cent reduction, because of background immunity in the rabbit populations.
The model was taken from the New South Wales government, which released the virus in 2016 and recorded a 36 per cent rabbit decrease.
Research officer with the Vertebrate Pest Research Unit in the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Tarnya Cox. Photo / Supplied
Testing there showed most of the dead rabbits actually died from another rogue virus, known as RHDV 2.
The regional council confirmed that virus had appeared in Otago late last year.
The head of the Australian state government's programme, Dr Tarnya Cox, said if it was to restart the programme, it would use the RHDV 2 virus instead.
It is more effective partly because K5 does not affect young rabbits in the same way as adults, and so they can develop immunity.
"However if it gets RHDV 2, it dies, so there's a competitive advantage it has over RHDV 1.''
If the New South Wales Government did decide to release that virus, it would be about seven years away because of a long registration process.
As to whether it should be formally released in New Zealand, Cox said it depended on factors specific to our country.
Back at Earnscleugh, Campbell said in the days of large poison drops "an 80 per cent reduction was a failure''.
Poisoning
Poisoning is a culling method which has been successful in bringing sudden blows to rabbit populations.
Maniototo Pest Management manager Ossie Brown says in order for shooting to make any kind of dent in the population, this needs to be done on a large scale first.
Because of operations in the past, poisoning is largely no longer necessary in Maniototo.
"That's good because it's very expensive for the farmer. Afterwards you can't put sheep back for three months.''
As the New Zealand Government and regional council have left rabbit management, poisoning is up to landowners.
Also, unfortunately for some, one of the most effective poisons is 1080, which has spawned a vocal opposition group that has only become emboldened in the past year.
Several properties in Arrow Junction spoke of a neighbour who managed to heavily reduce the number of rabbits on her patch with 1080 poisoning.
Maniototo Pest Management company manager Ossie Brown. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
Morven Ferry Rd resident Lyn Hamilton said those efforts were very successful on that landowner's property.
However, they received backlash from some people in the community once word got out.
"Some of the people who move here can't even bear the thought of killing a rabbit.''
Another neighbour, David Johns, also said the 1080 operation noticeably reduced the number of rabbits on the property down the road.
"Last winter and she got a really hard time from the public. The public probably aren't educated properly on that.''
Up until 2015 land owners could pay the regional council for poison operations, but now its up to individual contractors and requires individual consents.
For smaller landowners the cost is not viable.
Lifestyle Blocks
This brings us to a collection of 4ha spanners in the works.
The Otago countryside is now not just occupied by expanses of paddocks owned by one family, but sprinkled with lifestyle blocks filled with people not necessarily from the rural community.
Johns says on Morven Ferry Rd, which is lined by such properties, the rabbit problem is "really bad''.
He shot, trapped, poisoned and gassed the animals.
"But you can't rely on the neighbours because they're coming from property to property. If fencing is not done properly it causes problems.''
Hamilton says a man was contracted to shoot rabbits for several properties a few years back.
"But he gave up because he couldn't put up with lifestyle blockers giving him a hard time. It is harder, it really is. For example some lifestyle blockers have horses and don't want to move them.
"They get home, put Married at First Sight on, and don't go outside again.''
They and others have suggested a resource consent condition on new lifestyle blocks requiring decent rabbit netting.
Otago Regional Council biosecurity and biodiversity team leader Richard Lord says staff have been involved in conversations with territorial authorities advising them to look at rabbit-proof fencing.
"Ultimately though, making rabbit-proof fencing a consent requirement would have to happen within territorial authorities' district plans.''
The council has started with mail drops to some lifestyle block owners, educating them of their rabbit management responsibilities.
Landowners pay a fee and the company organises poison operations and systematic night shooting.
The system has been held up by many as able to keep rabbits down to manageable levels.
Manager Ossie Brown says during a night out shooting they usually see 20 rabbits, but sometimes the number is as low as five.
Firstly, he says, a population needs to be brought down to a manageable level with co-ordinated poisoning.
Dead rabbits are strung on a fence at Lowburn, near Cromwell, after the illegal release of rabbit calicivirus disease in Central Otago in 1997. Photo / Gerard O'Brien
The last time it did this on a large scale was in 2008 in conjunction with the regional council.
"Now we have intensive night shooting and follow it up with the helicopter in the winter. Usually it's just two of us and we can cover the whole Maniototo.''
Brown worked on rabbit boards since starting on the Kyeburn board in 1971, which later that decade amalgamated with Wedderburn and Patearoa to create the Maniototo Pest Destruction Board.
He says the system had successes and failures.
"When you're dealing with rabbits it's a battle - sometimes they win, sometimes we win.''
Perhaps the most essential element of the system in Maniototo is the co-ordination it creates between land owners.
"To me it's a no-brainer. It makes the farmers co-operate together, it does work and it has been working.''
"You don't want any bureaucrat in bloody Dunedin telling you what to do.''
Council staffer Lord said the Maniototo Pest Management model represents a collaborative, community-led approach, which it encourages and supports.
The council's proposed pest plan outlines its approach to feral rabbits over the next ten years, which continues to task landowners with controlling rabbit densities on their properties.
"It requires co-operation and collaboration, and for everyone to do their part.''
The council's role is to educate and support collaboration within community groups, which may involve inspections to ensure neighbours are doing their part.
"We recognise that a lot of landowners [are] already doing great work in this area, which is great for them and for their neighbours.''
In some areas council staff are actively involved in planning for the upcoming poison season, Lord says.
The Future
It is clear every tool available needs to be thrown at an animal which just does not want to go away.
It is also obvious that co-ordination needs to be at the centre.
The council's attempts to educate lifestyle block owners is a start, but councillors and residents need to keep pushing the issue and create or support some kind of structure to deal with the problem.
Once that happens, the work needs to be persistent and continuous.
