Anticoagulant pindone push for rabbit control

PEST controllers are being encouraged to use anticoagulant pindone to assist landowners with the control of burgeoning rabbit populations across the state.

Pindone has been used to control rabbits in Australia since the 1980s although biological control, through the regular release of calicivirus, has become the preferred method.

With landowners reporting skyrocketing numbers of rabbits, waiting until the optimum time to release calicivirus in autumn will not help the situation short-term.

Primary Industries Minister Jane Howlett said that controlling rabbits was a challenge statewide and pest controllers wanting to add rabbit control to their commercial offerings could apply for a five-year Agricultural Spraying Permit to apply the poison.

She said that NRE was well advanced in its planning and hoped to start calicivirus releases in early March subject to environmental conditions.

If released now it could infect naturally-immune rabbits less than 12 weeks old, which risked boosting immunity within rabbit populations longer-term.

“Calicivirus is just one control technique available and there are others in the interim,” she said. 

“An integrated pest management approach is the most effective and cost-efficient method of containing wild rabbits on your property.

“It requires the use of more than one control technique in rapid succession.

“The best time to do this is in late summer and early autumn when breeding has generally stopped because the grass they feed on has dried off.

Recommended control options are: 

• warren ripping and removal of harbours such as log heaps and blackberry bushes; 

• fencing; 

• poisoning, such as use of pindone; and 

• shooting.

 Meanwhile TasFarmers has stepped up its push for farmers to be allowed to use sound suppressors, known to most as silencers, to improve pest control and crop protection.

TasFarmers president Ian Saul said the farming body acknowledged the community’s concerns about access to suppressors and the need to control their use, however, with a regulated commercial model and the right controls in place, he believes suppressors would serve as a valuable tool for producers rather than a widely available piece of equipment available to just anyone.

He also believes now could be the right time to release calicivirus.

 “A coordinated, science-backed approach that includes virus releases, modern shooting techniques and adequate resourcing will be essential to protecting both livelihoods and meeting the industry’s goal to increase the annual value of the agriculture sector to $10 billion by 2050,” he said.

Some farmers are reporting myxomatosis is still causing rabbit deaths on their land.

Having become less effective over time, it is no longer released but still exists in the environment and periodically affects rabbit populations when conditions allow.

Pest controllers wanting to add rabbit control to their commercial offerings can apply for a five-year Agricultural Spraying Permit to apply the poison at: Agricultural Spraying Permit.pdf