THE rabbit population boom ravaging Macquarie Island, halfway between Australia and Antarctica, is providing an urgent reminder of why conservationists need to analyse all aspects of an eradication programme.
A plan to save the island鈥檚 birds by ridding it of its 160 feral cats has gone disastrously wrong, with the rabbit population now at a whopping 130,000, up from just 4000 in 2000. Clearing up the world heritage site is expected to cost AU$24 million (US$16 million).
鈥淭he rabbit population is now at a whopping 130,000, up from just 4000 in 2000鈥�
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鈥淲e need a culture change,鈥� says ecologist of the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Environmentalists 鈥渁re often averse to maths, and so avoid quantitative risk assessments鈥�, he says.
The rabbits have trashed the vegetation on 40 per cent of the island, according to an estimate by Dana Bergstrom of the in Tasmania and colleagues (Journal of Applied Ecology, vol 46, p 73).
The (TPWS), which eradicated the last cat in 2000, expected myxomatosis to limit rabbit numbers. But Bergstrom believes that had the TPWS 鈥渄one their calculations鈥� it could have avoided a population explosion.
A spokesperson for TPWS, however, told New 杏吧原创 that it was a 鈥渃onservation achievement鈥� to remove one of the island鈥檚 main pests. It is now for next year. This time, TPWS says, it intends to conduct a quantitative risk assessment first.