They might be cute but……

Rabbits are synonymous with cuteness and innocence.

Between button eyes and fluffy tails, they couldn’t look cuddlier. But we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and a closer look at rabbits reveals their dark side: why owning one in Queensland could carry a fine of up to $60,000.

Brought over with the First Fleet, wild populations of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) broke out by the 1820s. Over the next century, rabbits bred ferociously, numbering in billions, eventually covering 5.3 million of Australia’s 7.7 million square kilometres.

No mammal in recorded history has ever spread so quickly.

The rabbit is, however, most harmful to the environment. One rabbit per hectare can prevent the regeneration of some native plants; they selectively graze and browse on seedlings. They erode topsoil, compromising soil and water quality nearby. Robbing native competitors of resources and disproportionately boosting invasive predator populations, declines in many species are confidently attributed to rabbits. They threaten hundreds of plants and animals, especially other burrowing mammals.

Queensland has achieved regional control of rabbits with a rabbit-proof fence. Built to prevent eastward rabbit infringement and enable control within agriculturally productive regions, the Darling Downs-Moreton Bay Board Fence stretches 555 kilometres from Mount Gipps to Goombi. Without the fence, farmers would lose an estimated $30 million in productivity annually.

Pet rabbits are illegal in Queensland because every rabbit on this side of the fence increases the chance of a potentially catastrophic population explosion. Rabbits are exceptionally prolific; females can have over 40 offspring a year. A handful of escaped pets could rapidly become a plague.

It may seem strange that Queensland bans rabbits when they’re permitted in every other state, but effective control here has given valuable relief to agriculture and ecosystems. It’s simply not worth the risk to have any more of these destructive pests in the state.

Written by Charlotte Liehr