Evil Bunnies Destroy Island

Island on the brink of catastrophe

December 2, 2007

Help is finally on the way for this unique southern outpost. But will it be too late? John Elder reports.

It'S like one of those movies where a team of rough and tough heroes are called upon to save the world. In this case, the survival of one of Australia's ecological treasures depends on finding a dozen disciplined hunting dogs - and finding them fast.

Since rabbit numbers exploded on the World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island over the past couple of years, massive landslips - caused by overgrazing and tunnelling by the 100,000 bunnies - have sent entire hillsides falling into the Southern Ocean, killing king penguins and wiping out crucial albatross nests. At the same time, a living carpet of rats and mice have been feasting on the eggs in penguin and seabird colonies.

Macquarie is a sub-Antarctic island about 1500 kilometres south of Tasmania and a critical breeding ground for seabirds, including four endangered species of albatross, and delicate plant systems. It also serves as a unique geological snapshot of the world's evolution, a record of life.

The feral destruction of the island's native vegetation is akin to Ayers Rock being taken over by 100,000 clowns with jackhammers or the Great Barrier Reef being used as torpedo practice.

It was only when the World Wildlife Fund issued a horrifying and highly publicised report on the crisis in April that Tasmanian Environment Minister Paula Wriedt started talking with Federal Minister Malcolm Turnbull about paying for a rescue plan. (Tasmania administers the island while the Federal Government runs a research station as part of its Antarctic program.)

Another two months dragged by. On the eve of a potentially internationally embarrassing World Heritage committee meeting in June, Ms Wriedt finally agreed to put up half the $24.6 million it will cost to save the island. But the dithering means that nothing will happen until 2009 at the earliest.

This is where the hunting dogs come in. It takes up to two years to train a dog to work off the leash sniffing out rabbits while reliably staying away from non-target species such as penguins.

"If the dogs aren't ready we may have to defer for a year," says Keith Springer, project manager for the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service. "We won't know for sure until we've gone through the tendering process."

The tender documents are still being prepared, and contracts won't be signed until the middle of January at the earliest. "This means we're running pretty tight to meet the 2009 schedule," says Mr Springer.

The dog teams are in fact stage two of the most ambitious attempt to rid an island of rabbits and other vermin. Macquarie Island is about 34 kilometres long and 5.5 kilometres wide at its broadest point.

Stage one is a precision helicopter bombardment of the island with 260 tonnes of poison pellets. The bombing can only take place in winter when the rabbits are not breeding and most of the seabirds have left their breeding colonies. However, because of their long breeding cycle, thousands of king penguin chicks will still be huddling in creches while their parents are out at sea foraging for food. Mr Springer says testing with non-poisonous pellets found that penguins, petrels and albatross showed no interest in the baits "as a food source".

However, skuas - giant gulls - will be vulnerable to poisoning from infected carcasses.

But as Hobart-based seabird expert Barry Baker says: "There is no alternative. Even though some native species will be impacted, rabbits threaten complete ecosystem collapse."

The GPS-guided bombing program is modelled on a New Zealand project that wiped out a plague of Norway rats on Campbell Island, a sub-Antarctic island a little smaller than Macquarie.

"If the New Zealand experience is indicative, we can expect 90 per cent of rodents and rabbits will die underground," says Mr Springer. "The way the poison works (Brodifacoum, an anti-coagulant), the animal will feel lethargic and most likely go off its tucker. And as humans do when feeling sick, the instinct will be to go and rest. Poisoning any animal to death isn't a great outcome, but Brodifacoum is certainly a lot better than 1080. It won't be as painful a way to go."

The poison is expected to wipe out the rats and mice - but up to 10,000 rabbits will be left alive. And every single one of them needs to be sniffed out by a dog.

"We need the dogs to hit the island as soon as the baiting is finished," says Keith Springer. "One of the unknowns for us is that some people may be able to source young dogs that are ready to start training straight away. Some people might say they have litters on the way. Dogs are about three months old before they start training."

Alex Krstic of Melbourne-based Wildpro, a company specialising in dog training for pest eradication, says: "Training dogs not to attack protected wildlife isn't a simple procedure. From a puppy . . . you're talking more than two years. But if you've got dogs already a significant way along in their training . . . to hunt under the control of their handler, then it wouldn't take too long to bring them up to scratch. It depends on the quality of the dog. We use animals that are worth $10,000 each. In the end, you'll get what you pay for."

Mr Krstic says it would be "inappropriate" to say if he'd be tendering for the Macquarie Island job. The 12 to 15 dogs will be working on Macquarie for at least five years. The recovery of the island from erosion and grazing is expected to take decades.

According to Dr Ray Nias, of WWF: "The Government has left it very late . . . to act. And every year lost is a great tragedy for the island, given the rate at which it's declining."

With LUCINDA ORMONDE
Eden in need of help

■Macquarie Island is about 1500km south-south-east of Tasmania, about half-way between Tasmania and Antarctica. The main island is approximately 34km long and 5.5km wide at its broadest point.

■World Heritage listed in 1997 because of exceptional natural beauty and unique geology that contains a record of life on earth.

■Home to 80 breeding pairs grey-headed albatross, the species' only breeding site in Australia. At risk of extinction because of nest-destruction by rabbits.

■Blue petrels forced to breed offshore on rock stacks to escape marauding rats.

SOURCE: WWF and World Heritage

HELL ON THE HOP

■1879: Rabbits introduced to Macquarie Island as food source for New Zealand crews who were boiling up penguins for their oil.

■1979: Myxomatosis introduced, rabbit numbers drop to about 15,000.

■2000-2003: Feral cats eradicated, rabbits on the hop again.

■June 2004: Holes appear in the landscape from grazing and tunnelling. Rats and mice on the rise.

■September 2006: Massive landslip lands on a penguin colony. Reports of albatross nests falling off unstable hilltops.

■December 2006: Rabbits said to number 100,000. WWF and Peregrine Adventures donate $100,000 towards eradication. Federal Government offers to pay half the eradication costs.

■February 2007: Federal and Tasmanian governments start bickering.

■March 2007: Tasmanian Environment Minister Paula Wriedt refuses to contribute to $24.6 million rescue plan, saying it is a federal responsibility.

■April 2007: WWF releases damning report on the devastation.

■June 2007: Wriedt comes to the party with funding after international publicity.