The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Virus to target urban rabbit infestations 

NZPA
14 May, 2006 12:25 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The virus used in the council cull will not be available for private use. Picture / Martin Sykes

The virus used in the council cull will not be available for private use. Picture / Martin Sykes

KEY POINTS:

Infestations of rabbits on the outskirts of towns in many parts of New Zealand will be targeted with the rabbit calicivirus (RCV), which is being trialled as a new means of selective rabbit control this winter.

A consortium of the country's regional councils, led by Environment Southland, has
imported the virus from an Australian laboratory.

Strict protocols for the use of RCV have been agreed between the regional councils, the Environmental Risk Management Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture last year.

The imported virus is the same as the strain circulating in the New Zealand rabbit population, after being illegally released in 1997. The virus will not be available for private use.

Environment Southland biosecurity manager Richard Bowman said the virus was not a "silver bullet" that would wipe out rabbit numbers.

Landowners would need to continue present measures to control rabbits, he said.

The idea was that rabbits would eat the infected bait and die rather than pass the virus on to other rabbits.

He said the calicivirus would be used as a biocide in areas which were close to population centres or in high public use areas, because conventional control measures such as shooting and poisoning could not be used there.

Its use would be restricted to June and July, when the number of young rabbits was at its lowest, before the spring breeding season.

This was to meet concerns at some councils, such as Otago Regional Council, that the virus should not be allowed to start uncontrolled epidemics of rabbit haemorrhagic disease in the wild, and potentially upset a cycle of natural epidemics of the "wild" virus.

Council staff would even have to collect uneaten baits to avoid the possibility of the virus breaking down in sunlight and degrading to a weakened form which would simply immunise rabbits.

"Attempts to start epidemics artificially can have the effect in stimulating immunity among the rabbit population and this reduces its effectiveness as a control tool," Bowman said.

The winter use would limit the potential to build resistance in baby rabbits - which may gain immunity if exposed to the virus in the first weeks of life - and would attract rabbits when they were short of food.

Bowman said the virus should be useful in places where conventional rabbit control measures such as shooting and poisoning were not practical, but would not be used in rural areas.

Some farmers in Central Otago, the most rabbit-prone region, have recently complained of the pest's numbers reaching "quite alarming" levels and called for a new wave of rabbit haemorrhagic disease to be spread into the wild.

But the Otago Regional Council has said there is no scientific evidence that fresh batches of the disease would kill more effectively than the entrenched strain.

- NZPA

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

07 Jul 05:59 AM
The Country

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM
The Country

Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

07 Jul 03:57 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

07 Jul 05:59 AM

David Bullock, 78, was killed on his last delivery before retiring.

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM
Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

07 Jul 03:57 AM
'Dearly loved' 21yo killed in Stewart Island hunting incident

'Dearly loved' 21yo killed in Stewart Island hunting incident

07 Jul 01:41 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP