Australian rabbits became a massive menace or pest because they faced almost no natural predators and reproduced at an explosive rate, devastating the local environment and agriculture.
They caused an enormous amount of damage to Australian farmland. But the export of their skins proved profitable, and Australia serves as a principal source of the rabbit fur used commercially.
Rabbits breed multiple times a year and have large litters, allowing small groups to turn into millions within just a few years. Australia had very few native predators that hunted rabbits, and mild winters enabled them to breed all year long.
Vast open grasslands and mild conditions provided them with an endless supply of food. Rabbits ate grass down to the roots, stripped trees of their bark (ringbarking), and starved out native animals and livestock.
By stripping away plant cover, they exposed the topsoil to wind and rain, leading to major dust storms and ruined landscapes.
They cost the agricultural industry hundreds of millions of dollars every year by destroying crops and ruining pastures; even radical attempts to control them—like building thousands of kilometers of rabbit-proof fences or releasing biological diseases—only worked temporarily before the rabbits adapted or bounced back.
In the early 1950s researchers introduced a virus disease called myxamatosis. The mosquito and the rabbit flea transmit the virus, which is a specific parasite of the rabbit.
It is so lethal that 80 per cent of the rabbit population died within three years. However, by 1960, a strain of rabbits resistant to the disease was again becoming a serious pest.
Content for this question contributed by Michelle Beaudry, resident of Warren, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
