Attitudes of New Zealand farmers to methods used to control wild rabbits.
Four years after the release of Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in New Zealand, we conducted a mail survey of farmers to ascertain their attitudes and practices about rabbit control. A multistage sampling frame (stratified by rabbit-proneness and farm type) was used to select 828 farms in eight geographical regions. The useable response proportion of the survey was 69.3%, and 21% of respondents considered rabbits to be a problem on their farms. Although practices for rabbit control had changed from 1995 to 2001, shooting (practised by 85% of respondents) remained the predominant method used (albeit less frequently than in 1995). Ten percent of farmers used RHDV baiting; of those, 90% released the virus relatively infrequently. Farmers perceived shooting to be the most-humane and environmentally safe method, while RHDV was perceived to be the most effective. Perception of the level of competition for grazing between rabbits and livestock was the factor most-strongly associated with the use of shooting and RHDV. Most (60%) respondents considered the introduction of RHDV to have been beneficial.
Henning
J
J
EpiCentre, Massey University, Palmerston North, P.O. Box 11-222, New Zealand. j.henning@uq.edu.au
Heuer
C
C
Davies
P R
PR
D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001290:Attitude; D002417:Cattle; D017929:Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Rabbit; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D011817:Rabbits; D012756:Sheep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires