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Some fifty years after the first rabbit was imported in 1859, the animals have spread across Australia. This emerges from new research where the British newspaper The Guardian written on.
In 1788 already five rabbits
Rabbits are estimated to cost Australian farmers nearly $140 million a year because they eat agricultural crops. Additionally, there are many more predators such as foxes and feral cats in areas where rabbits live, which endangers animals native to Australia.
It has long remained unclear when the first rabbits were brought to Australia, as the animals did not originally live there. The new research shows that five rabbits were brought to Sydney in 1788. In the years that followed, rabbits were imported from Europe at least 90 times, but this never led to a population explosion.
This changed in 1859 with the arrival of 24 Baltonsborough rabbits in Britain when Thomas Austin at Barwon Park in Victoria received the animals from his brother. After three years, thousands of rabbits were involved, according to the researchers.
Also in New Zealand
DNA examination of nearly 200 rabbits from Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, England and France shows that the rabbit invasion that still plagues Australia today was caused by these 24 animals. The rabbits were able to survive on the east coast of Australia as well as in the desert and were later exported to New Zealand, where they also became a plague.
According to the researchers, the speed at which the 1,859 rabbits spread across Australia shows “the importance of tight border controls”. In Australia and New Zealand, there are very strict rules regarding the import of animal or natural products, as these can cause major ecological problems on the islands.
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