• New calicivirus strain to be released in Australia to control rabbits.
    39 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Plate Phelps;51830189]Something similar happened in the past and it [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War"]didn't work out too well.[/URL] I honestly would've figured that rabbit population wouldn't be a problem in Australia given the insane amount of ravenous animals already residing in the country.[/QUOTE] [quote]The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.[/quote] You can't make this shit up.
Weird that the dangerous australian wildlife can't take care of the rabbit problem. Are the snakes too small, crocodiles too slow to catch them, and cassowaries too aloof to kill them? I feel like the aus government can just invite a ton of hunters from around the world to take care of their rabbit problem and help their tourist industry
[QUOTE=Dr.C;51832274]Weird that the dangerous australian wildlife can't take care of the rabbit problem. Are the snakes too small, crocodiles too slow to catch them, and cassowaries too aloof to kill them? I feel like the aus government can just invite a ton of hunters from around the world to take care of their rabbit problem and help their tourist industry[/QUOTE] They just breed way too fast. Snakes love them, but then you also get an abundance of snakes. Which is slightly terrifying
I'm kind of sick about the stupid things Australia is doing to the environment. Like culling sharks, seriously? Didn't they learn from Hawaii? Releasing a virus into the wild removes the control from the government and leaves it up to nature to decide. Not exactly a smart move, since this has the potential to wipe the species from the island.
Over here we introduced Mixy to kill off rabbits and it kills a shitton of dogs every year by accident.
[QUOTE=space1;51833514]I'm kind of sick about the stupid things Australia is doing to the environment. Like culling sharks, seriously? Didn't they learn from Hawaii? Releasing a virus into the wild removes the control from the government and leaves it up to nature to decide. Not exactly a smart move, since this has the potential to wipe the species from the island.[/QUOTE] Eradication is what we are aiming for....
[QUOTE=space1;51833514]I'm kind of sick about the stupid things Australia is doing to the environment. Like culling sharks, seriously? Didn't they learn from Hawaii? Releasing a virus into the wild removes the control from the government and leaves it up to nature to decide. Not exactly a smart move, since this has the potential to wipe the species from the island.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Whomobile;51830728]just an fyi but it is a [B]New[/B] calicivirus strain, we've used this virus before to great effect with (as far as I know) no negative side effects to the ecosystem.[/QUOTE] We've used the same virus to cull the rabbit population for decades with great effect, this is just a new strain, it still won't affect any native wildlife. It was [del]introduced in a controlled manner to avoid another cane toad scenario. [/del] (My bad, looked up the part of Dr Karl's [I]Great Australian Facts and Firsts[/I] about rabbit control and it turns out the virus escaped the island it was being tested on too early.) rabbits are a HUGE problem in Australia since they have no "natural" predators and eat away at scrub land which results in erosion and less food for farm animals and native wildlife. Sure the predators we have here eat them but not in the quantity that results in a stable population. Theses an't cute bunnies we're talking about, they're a plague, a pest and need to be eradicated. Also most people thought the shark culling was a stupid reactionary idea. With an election coming up in WA I'm surprised it isn't being brought up against the current state government. [editline]17th February 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=DOCTOR LIGHT;51833523]Over here we introduced Mixy to kill off rabbits and it kills a shitton of dogs every year by accident.[/QUOTE] Myxoma doesn't work on Australian rabbits which is why they use calicivirus. It used to work but they've developed an immunity to it.
[QUOTE=space1;51833514].... since this has the potential to wipe the species from the island.[/QUOTE] That would be the point.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.