ECan seeks 1080 consent

Rising rabbit numbers have led Environment Canterbury to apply for global consent for 1080 poison drops, as numbers show increasing immunity to RHD.

Nine of the 11 Canterbury regions monitored have seen an increase in rabbit numbers, including the Mackenzie, Omarama and Kaikoura districts.

ECan chief executive Bryan Jenkins said he was particularly concerned with the increases in the Mackenzie District, where rabbit numbers had increased from 4.29 rabbits per km in 2007 to 5.53 per km in 2008, as it was the sixth consecutive annual increase for the area.

The rise occurred despite the fact that more than 800 tonnes of carrot and pindone pellets were dropped over Canterbury in 2008, three times the level of the previous year.

"We believe that a global consent for 1080 poison drops would speed up the process, especially if farmers were able to join in under the umbrella scheme," Dr Jenkins said.

"There is no doubt that rabbits are returning to the district despite extensive measures by all involved."

Although the rabbit disease immunity levels in the past three years had been consistently around 50 per cent of monitored populations, Dr Jenkins said the new abundance in rabbit numbers suggested that there are more immune rabbits every year.

However, Federated Farmers Mackenzie branch chairman John Murray said the RHD introduction had allowed farmers "several good years".

"Everyone was really saved by the [introduction] of RHD, as it arrived when rabbit numbers were at almost unbearable levels, but we just do not know where we are at the moment.

"Right now, there appears to be an upward trend, but I'm concerned that farmers will wear the brunt of the cost [for rabbit control].

"This could have far greater effects on the environment and it may require an extensive, central government approach to curbing rabbit numbers before they become uncontrollable."

ECan biosecurity team leader Brent Glentworth, of Timaru, said if rabbit numbers were not controlled much of the Mackenzie Basin "could be sitting on a potential powder-keg".

"It is really hard to tell whether rabbit numbers could rise to the peaks of the early 1990s, as RHD was not a factor back then, but it needs to be more closely monitored," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News