Exploding rabbit populations in Western Australia are causing severe crop damage

Exploding rabbit populations in Western Australia are inflicting fresh losses on grain producers and threatening biodiversity, with the Invasive Species Council blaming regulatory hurdles and a lack of sustained federal funding for the surge.

Jack Gough, chief executive of the Council, said rabbit numbers had climbed to levels not seen since the mid-1990s, when populations were last sharply reduced by the introduction of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). He warned that existing biological controls were losing potency as rabbits developed immunity, while no new biocontrol was close to deployment.

“It takes at least a decade to develop a new virus, and there has been no federal funding for that work since 2022,” Gough said, calling the situation “not good enough.”

Farmers across the Wheatbelt say the impact is already severe. Emily Stretch, a farmer near Kojonup, said rabbits had stripped canola and lupin paddocks bare, leaving some fields unharvestable. Similar reports have emerged across the region, with growers describing population levels they have never previously experienced.

Rabbits were estimated to cause approximately $200 million in agricultural losses per year, even when populations were relatively low in the late 1990s. Gough said favorable seasonal conditions had accelerated the current rebound, but warned that local control efforts could not materially curb numbers without a new national-scale biocontrol.

Veteran farmers share that concern. Neville Wall, who has farmed near Toodyay for three decades, said the familiar boom-and-bust cycle driven by calicivirus no longer appears to be working. “We’re not seeing that same pattern anymore,” he said.

In a statement, federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said states and territories remain primarily responsible for on-ground invasive species management, but added that the federal government is investing $1.2 million in rabbit control projects under its Supporting Communities Manage Pest Animals and Weeds Program. The funding supports improved control tools and a National Rabbit Biocontrol Pipeline Strategy.

The Invasive Species Council argues that rabbits should instead be treated as a permanent national priority, warning that unchecked populations could become a major political and economic issue over the next decade.