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RabbitScan is a new initiative that RMAG (the national Rabbit Management Advisory Group) developed to coincide with the 150 year anniversary of the wild rabbit being introduced onto Australian farmlands, on Christmas Day 1859. 150 years later, wild rabbits are now reaching World Heritage Areas in Far North QLD and are bouncing back from previous biological (viral) controls to continue to threaten productivity and biodiversity across Australia.

Rabbits in a Canberra Park

The RabbitScan Challenge

Our challenge (and yours) is to record data about rabbits from at least 5000 sites across Australia that have rabbits (e.g. rabbit activity, no rabbits and abandoned burrows). We'd like your help, to find and record the data. We will provide the tools you need to capture and record Survey data for May, RabbitScan Month. EXTENDED TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER 2009 DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND (and we have not yet reached the target!!)

We will provide a guide for how to check if you have rabbits and to calculate just how many there are, through a few simple steps (this will be delivered to your email address after you register). We ask you to pick as many local sites as you can, scan them for rabbits and rabbit damage to soils and vegetation, and then let us know via our website.

REGISTER NOW by selecting Register from the Menu on your left. Once registered you can immediately login and put details into the map and data screen. Thanks for getting involved in this important initiative.

Who can do a RabbitScan site?

Anyone! We need as many individuals, groups and organisations as possible to have a go at RabbitScan – individuals, families, school groups, 4WD groups, hunting and recreation groups, farming groups, landcare groups, scouts, footy groups – in fact any individual, family or group keen to protect their local area from the scourge of rabbits or interested to find out just how many rabbits are in your area.

What will happen with our local RabbitScan data?

• Our goal is to reach 5000 survey sites which will be added to the RabbitScan Web Map
• We will email you when the mapping site is ready to accept your survey data
• Ideal sites for Surveys include public land sites, including roadsides (ensure your safety at all times whilst out on field site visits), ovals, parks, travelling stock routes, cemeteries, van parks, beachside parkland, bushland, farms and school yards
• IACRC Science group will use your data to map and assess rabbit activity across Australia

The wild rabbit is a key agent of great change to Australia's landscapes. The rabbit will continue to degrade our diversity of native plants and animals and our capacity for sustainable primary production, if we do not take continuing action to minimise the consequential losses.

Nicholas Newland
Rabbit Management Advisory Group