Hills & Fleurieu
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European rabbits are a serious invasive pest across the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu.

European rabbits are a serious invasive pest across the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu.

The impact of feral rabbits

Feral rabbits are a serious threat to Australia's environment and economy.

  • Environmental damage: Rabbits eat native plants, outcompete native animals for habitat, and cause soil damage and erosion through their burrowing.
  • Economic impact: They inflict millions of dollars in damage to crops, pastures, and cause erosion issues that drive topsoil loss and damage dam walls.

Managing rabbits is difficult and requires ongoing effort from landholders.

Managing wild rabbits on your property

Maintaining pressure on rabbit populations each year improves farm productivity, reduces food resources for foxes and feral cats and helps to protect native vegetation and wildlife. In SA, it is the legal responsibility of the land owner to control rabbits on their property under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019.

Using a range of methods and coordinating with your neighbours to control rabbits over the summer season is your best chance of lasting success. Control methods include:

  • Excluding rabbits from revegetation areas and gardens using suitable tree guards and fencing
  • Destroying or collapsing warrens and removing shelter, cleaning up piles of green waste, prunings and branches, and dealing with piles of pallets or other items harbouring rabbits.
  • If your land size is larger than 1000 square metres, baiting with pindone-treated carrots in summer. These can only be sourced through Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu at designated distribution days. Distribution days will be held between December and April.
  • Bait with pindone-treated oats – these can be purchased from some hardware stores and ag stores.
  • Bait with RHDV K5 (calicivirus) treated carrots sourced from one of our distribution days in February.
  • Talk to your neighbours and get them involved to achieve wider rabbit control in your area.

Get in touch with your local Stewardship Officer if you need further advice or download the factsheet.

Baiting with pindone carrots

Dyed, green, Pindone-treated carrots are just one of the tools to help control escalating rabbit numbers throughout the region. When using Pindone, it is extremely important to employ strategies that minimise the risk of poisoning non-target animals.

To minimise the potential for off-target impacts we strongly encourage you to:

  • Pre-feed at least three times with unbaited carrots – this will train the rabbits to eat a new food source, help you work out how much baited carrots you will need, and allow you to monitor and ensure off-target species are not eating the carrots before your poison baiting program begins.
  • Not bait within areas of native vegetation and leave a good buffer, at least 100m between baiting areas and native vegetation or dense exotic vegetation that could support small native mammals.
  • Lay baits in the evening in a freshly scuffed up trail – rabbits are attracted to disturbed soil. Pick up any uneaten baits early the following morning and dispose of them via deep burial.
  • Consider covering bait trails with solid or mesh tunnels with a small opening at either end to limit access.
  • If you only have a small number of rabbits, consider constructing and training rabbits to use a bait station. A bait station might be a covered mesh tunnel or similar with small opening at either end. These can reduce access to bait for non-target species.
  • Dead rabbits should be buried deeply, minimum 500 mm.
  • If you see native animals eating bait, stop your baiting program immediately and pick up all uneaten bait

For Pindone to be effective on rabbits they need to have multiple feeds on baited carrots over 10-12 days to build up a lethal dose. If you suspect that your pet has eaten Pindone treated carrots, it is unlikely to die if it has eaten small amounts. We suggest you take it to the vet immediately. Vitamin K1 is an antidote to Pindone poisoning.

All the bait active ingredients sold by Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu are regulated by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu supports safe, responsible and effective control of rabbits. If in doubt regarding the humaneness of a control method, please seek further advice from the RSPCA

Baiting with pindone oats

Pindone oats is one option which can be very effective in controlling rabbits on your property, particularly in the wetter months. But like all baits, Pindone oats must be used with great care. This video explains how to bait effectively, safely and responsibly.

Baiting with the K5 calicivirus release program

Land managers may wish to be involved in the K5 calicivirus release program which will run in February 2025. This is a good option for those on land parcels smaller than 1000 square metres, or for those who do not wish to use Pindone. There are no off-target risks when using K5 calicivirus treated carrots as the virus only affects rabbits. Please be aware that the effectiveness of K5 is highly variable (20-80% effective), is dependent on any pre-existing immunity to K5, and the ability of flies to spread the virus. Information on how to run a safe and successful K5 baiting program on your property can be found in the below video.

This program is also offered to the six councils in our region. Information on their release sites may be found on council websites.

Collapsing rabbit warrens

Collapsing warrens (destroying entrances manually) is a simple and cheap way to control rabbits on your property in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu region. There’s no lower property size limit, no baits are involved, and it’s safe for wildlife and pets. Once warrens are collapsed, rabbits are less likely to return to your property.