Australia: Rabbits still cost ag $206m a year but that's down nearly 90pc on $2b

A new report says controlling rabbits with viruses has saved Australian agriculture $81.8 billion but the pest still costs the industry about $206 million every year. After they were introduced in the 1850s, rabbit numbers exploded in Australia. By the 1940s, there were 600 million across the country, outnumbering humans 80 to 1. A new report released by Centre for Invasive Species Solutions chief executive Andreas Glanznig shows controlling rabbit numbers had huge benefits for primary producers and threatened species. "The value of new rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus variants naturalised since 2014 to Australian agriculture is expected to save $4b over the next 30 years," he said. "This builds on the benefits already achieved over a 60-year period of $81.8b, following the release of the myxoma virus in 1950 and the first rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus in 1995." The report, Benefits of Rabbit Biocontrol in Australia: An Update, also reveals that the removal of rabbits just as ...