This newsletter is for those interested in the development of a whole-of-peninsula rabbit control project. If you do not want to receive the newsletter, please let us know.
 

Rabbit Sweep Report - February 2024.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join the catalogue working bee and meeting.

Please, everyone, put this date into your calendar. Your participation will help us.

Wednesday April 10, 6.30 pm, for presentation and discussion of the Rabbit Sweep work.

We have, as our goal, an interactive rabbit control strategy that we can all share with the result that more landholders help control the rabbits on the Bellarine. Currently, some government agencies and some landholders are participating. Thus they are  working on the health of the Peninsula itself, as an environment, and contributing to the health of the Bellarine residents and visitors. But for whatever reason, the majority of landholders are not committed to such work.

When landholders choose to act, they need to be able to do this according to their individual circumstances, skills, resources, etc. The Rabbit Sweep has found that although there are masses of information resources online to help these landholders, it is not obvious where they are, which are reliable, which might suit them but not others, .... So fixing this is a bit of what we will call low-hanging fruit (see below). We are very aware of the fact that our landholders are responsible and cannot expect others or funds to manage their ground-work. To this end we want to make it easier and cheaper for them to do better pest abatement work.

The major problem we have, however, is engaging with many more landholders, encouraging them to work in their way on what are their responsibilities. There is a massive task to be undertaken and many many more people are needed to help.

In 2023, BLG RAG joined Birdlife Australia in a successful campaign to make people aware of the two possibilities available to them when they are plagued by rats. The two classes of rodenticides available in the stores are very different - some can be used without fear of harm to animals other than rats and mice but some are responsible for killing the animals that prey on the dead or dying rats, Knowing which is which makes it easy to choose the right one. See the flier at https://bellarinelandcare.org.au/images/blg_pdfs/BLG_Ratbait_Aug23.pdf

We do not have a fool-proof recipe for controlling rabbits and we certainly do not know what those who currently are not interested can contribute to our work. We want to engage with them, possibly via 'friends-of' groups or other agencies, or even by interest groups that do not think rabbits are a priority for them, despite being invaded by them.

We think of those tables outside supermarkets that draw attention to local problems, or events at which people are gathered for other reasons but are happy to learn about rabbits and the damage they do. We are designing some brochures which will be available for 'street stalls', placement in cafes and stores, distributed to letter boxes, and some even more interesting get-togethers.

On April 13 we will have a presentation at the BLG members event at 6.30 pm at the Mannerim Hall. All will be welcome. Just how much work has been done for the Sweep and how we plan to complete writing up our strategic plan will be discussed. Please make an effort to come and encourage others to do so too.

We think people contemplating attending to rabbit problems, as a well as those about to act on them, need good, relevant, easy-to-find info resources. We are developing a library for them. Resource providers, or others, can describe an info resource and enter the location etc into the catalogue. Once we have the software we need, users will be able to do targeted searches and choose what suits them. We do hope you will help us build this up and test the system now - go to https://testing.bellarinemac.org.au/index.php/rabbit-sweep-work/resource-catalogue to make an entry and let us know how it works for you, please.

An exciting aspect of our work in 2024 will hopefully involve the local Aboriginal community. The Bellarine has been inhabited for millenia and for much of that time been a healthy environment for its residents. We are keen to restore the health, in whatever way is appropriate in now, and to do this to work closely with the Wadawurrung Corporation.

A huge amount of work has been done on a voluntary basis and a lot according to a grant we received last year. We currently have a small grant to help with the publications and we have spent a lot of time recently applying for a grant from the Department of Agriculture. The Department is concerned about biosecurity of the Peninsula and we hear you say - so are we! Let's hope we are successful and able to get the library software we need and to employ help to work on our engagement strategy.

So, publishing the process we have adopted and what we have learned is next; some brochures are in the early design phase; a catalogue is being built for a rabbit library that can be used by anyone; a button will be offered that can be added to any agency's website to make the library available; a strategic plan is being written up; we are preparing for an open discussion session on April 13, and more.

 If you have news, ideas, queries, or otherwise, please feel free to share them.
We are keen to hear from you at /

Please note that you can see and explore the Miro board on which Together Apart display what we are doing: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNDWlwJY=/?share_link_id=250805616819  The Miro Board items change as they are worked on.