00:02They might look small and innocent, but don't be fooled.
00:06These rabbits are destroying large sections of farms and properties.
00:10Lost production is probably in the $50,000 to $100,000 a year, I would say, for a very small
00:17landholder like myself.
00:18This Riverina farmer can no longer plant on some of his land after his crop was destroyed in 2023.
00:26And numbers are only increasing.
00:28The full scope of the problem can be seen at night.
00:32It'd be probably around in between 5,000 and 10,000 rabbits you'd be able to see from where you're
00:38standing.
00:38And it's not just farmers facing the brunt of it.
00:41The pests have spread to nearby towns.
00:44You get to a point where you've just got to say, that's it, stop.
00:49There's nothing else we can afford to do.
00:52Graveyards across Duny Shire have been damaged by rabbit warrens.
00:56With one baiting program at the cemetery costing council around $30,000.
01:02When a new strain of the Khaleesi virus was released in 2017, it wiped out around 60% of Australia's
01:09rabbit population.
01:11But as resistance grows in remaining rabbits, so do the numbers.
01:15And as that drops off, then it's very difficult with other techniques to get on top of rabbit numbers because
01:22rabbits breed like rabbits.
01:24There's currently no new biocontrol in the works.
01:28And the federal government is under pressure to invest more funding for a new virus.
01:32A department spokesperson says over $1.2 million in federal funding is supporting wild rabbit projects.
01:40It's estimated there are around 200 million rabbits nationwide.
Comments