Introducing, keeping and supplying rabbits in Queensland is illegal and penalties apply. Limited types of permits for domestic rabbits are available from Biosecurity Queensland for research purposes, public display, magic acts, and circuses. Before a permit is granted, guidelines must be met.

The Toowoomba Regional Council is committed to managing invasive plants and animals to protect the local environment and community. Their biosecurity efforts focus on controlling pest species, educating landholders, and ensuring compliance with the Biosecurity Act 2014.​Toowoomba Region

Key Programs and Initiatives

• Pest Animal Control: The Council assists landowners in managing pest animals such as wild dogs, foxes, and feral pigs through a '1080 baiting service' conducted four times a year, with additional support provided as needed. ​Toowoomba Region

• Rabbit Management: Control methods include destroying warrens and burrows, removing potential shelters like log piles, and utilizing biological controls such as calicivirus and myxomatosis to reduce rabbit populations. ​Toowoomba Region

• Weed Control: The Council's Conservation and Pest Management team manages weeds along approximately 11,000 km of road network and conducts inspections across the 13,000 square km region. ​Have Your Say

• Biosecurity Surveillance Program: This program monitors invasive biosecurity matter, promotes best practice management, and provides information to enhance community awareness. ​Toowoomba Region+1Toowoomba Region+1

Landholder Responsibilities

Under local laws, land occupiers are required to keep their properties free from overgrown vegetation and accumulations of materials that could harbor pests. ​

Additional Resources

For more information on pest and weed management, including specific programs and resources, visit the Toowoomba Regional Council's Pests & Weeds (Biosecurity) page.​Toowoomba Region+1

Rabbits can be difficult to control even when they are in small numbers, and there are very few available methods that are inherently humane. However, it is possible to improve the humaneness of a control program by ensuring that it is carried out at the most appropriate time and in accordance with best practice. 

This article provides some basic advice on how to reduce the impacts of rabbits in a semi-rural setting and outlines the most humane control methods available for small-scale rabbit control.

The DDMRB provides technical support and advice to landholders within its operational area, which encompasses eight local government area. The board employs 15 staff members who patrol and maintain the fence weekly, utilizing vehicles and, in some rugged terrains, conducting foot patrols. ​ddmrb.org.au+8ddmrb.org.au+8ddmrb.org.au+8

In Queensland, rabbits are classified as a restricted invasive animal and are prohibited as pets. The maximum penalty for keeping rabbits in the state is $66,725. Residents are encouraged to report rabbit sightings to help contain the population and protect the environment and agricultural lands.

This is the background document to the 2016 Threat abatement plan for competition and land degradation by rabbits.

The document aims to provide information on: rabbit characteristics, biology and distribution impacts on environmental, economic, social and cultural values, and current management practices and research findings.

The report is provided by the Australian Government - Department of the Environment & Energy.

Got rabbits? These small mammals can do a number on young plants, so control and prevention is paramount. Aside from fencing, there are many old-time remedies and other solutions that will keep them out of the garden patch! Plus, see a list of plants that rabbits tend to ignore. 

This blog is a resource for information on how to identify and control the rabbit population in your yard.

Pests are animals causing harm or significant disturbance in areas where they are not wanted. They often have the ability to flourish if left unmanaged in suitable environments. Physical, chemical and biological control options are available to variously cull, inhibit breeding or exclude pests from priority areas. It is rare that a single control measure will be completely successful. Even very effective biological controls require support from additional control measures.

Warren destruction by ripping is used to minimise the impact of the introduced European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) on agricultural production and the environment. Other rabbit control methods include poisoning, warren destruction using explosives, warren fumigation, surface harbour removal, shooting, trapping, exclusion fencing and biological control with rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) and myxomatosis.

In many areas of Australia, rabbits depend on warrens for shelter from climatic extremes, predator avoidance and also for successful breeding. Warrens are destroyed using ripping or, in rocky or inaccessible areas, explosives. Since rabbits do not readily dig new warrens, rabbit populations do not persist in areas where warrens are effectively destroyed and re-colonisation is made less likely.

Warrens are destroyed using a tractor or bulldozer fitted with single or multiple-tined rippers. The technique used will vary depending on local conditions such as soil type, position of warrens and type of equipment available. Ripping will be more humane when the number of rabbits in the warren is low and when powerful machinery is used to achieve complete disintegration of the warren, so that the rabbits are killed quickly. Because ripping gives long term management of rabbit populations the need for repeated control operations is reduced.

This National Standard Operating Procedure (NATSOP) is a guide only; it does not replace or override the legislation that applies in the relevant state or territory jurisdiction. The NATSOP should only be used subject to the applicable legal requirements (including OH&S) operating in the relevant jurisdiction.

The first step in adaptive pest management is to define the problem and understand as much as possible about the pest. Analysis of rabbit problems is aided by data on:

• Their impact – signs of rabbit damage.
• Their distribution and abundance – where rabbits are found and, especially, where their warrens are. Warrens are crucial to rabbit breeding and therefore a key to their control. Knowing where they feed can help if baiting will be part of the control program.

Most rabbits are cautious about trying new foods, but if it’s green then they are likely to try it! There are a wide variety of plants that are poisonous to rabbits as well as 

This blog is a resource on common plants and household items that can affect rabbits.

The European rabbit is one of Australia’s most widespread and destructive environmental and agricultural vertebrate pests.

This page is a resource from NSW Local Land Services.

Sharing both lethal and humane methods to stop rabbits from eating your plants and help you protect your yard from wild, cottontail, European rabbits, and more!

This blog is a resource from The Pest Dude on various DIY methods for controlling rabbits.

The video titled "Menace Of The Rabbit (1948)" is an archival newsreel documenting Australia's struggle with a massive rabbit infestation in the mid-20th century.

It showcases the ecological and agricultural devastation caused by the unchecked rabbit population, which led to significant crop destruction and land degradation.

The footage highlights the extensive measures taken to control the outbreak, including fencing, poisoning, and trapping, underscoring the severity of the issue and the lengths to which authorities went to mitigate the damage.​

This article is from the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4.

Attack the rabbit at home . . .

DESTROY WARRENS AND HARBOURAGE

Effective rabbit destruction often calls for a carefully worked out control programme consisting of poisoning, fumigating and warren and harbourage destruction. Possibly the most effective means of not only controlling rabbits but ultimately eradicating them from holdings is the destruction of warrens and harbourage.

Rabbits are Australia’s most serious pest herbivore and we are legally required to control them. Only one rabbit per hectare will stop the growth and regeneration of native plants.

This page is a resource by Geelong City Council on rabbit control in the Greater Geelong region.

Pest animal and weed control has been a necessity since South Australia was colonised by Europeans in 1836. While initially the colonists’ principal concern was to establish themselves and their communities – supplies of food and water were vital – the activities of settlement required the authorities to take action to prevent specific threats posed by diseases of animals and plants, unwanted animals and plants or the actions of people.

Rabbits are often considered the main pest species, animal or plant that Australia has had to confront. Governor Arthur Phillip came to Australia with five rabbits on the First Fleet in 1788 and 16 rabbits arrived on the vessel Governor Gawler in South Australia in 1840.

This page is a resource covering the introduction of rabbits.

The herbicide Roundup can be harmful to animals. This is primarily due to exposure of the active ingredient in Roundup called glyphosate.

This post discusses how animals could suffer side effects from being in contact with the weed killer.

After more than 150 years of battling this pest, Australia is now facing a fresh increase in rabbit numbers. Rabbits have been spotted in rising numbers in the Atherton tablelands in far north Queensland, and the Northern Rivers region in New South Wales.

The article covers a historical account of rabbits introduction and eradication in Australia by the ABC.

Rabbits are one of Australia's most destructive pest animals. They have a significant negative and costly impact on agriculture through overgrazing and they endanger many threatened plant species and ecological communities. NSW Environment and Heritage work to reduce their impact on native plants, animals and the environment.

This page is a resource provided by NSW Environment and Heritage.

The initial release of the myxoma virus led to a dramatic reduction of Australia’s rabbit population. Within two years of the virus’s release in 1950 Australia’s wool and meat production recovered from the rabbit onslaught to the tune of $68 million.

As predicted by CSIRO’s Francis Ratcliffe and ANU’s Frank Fenner, the impact of myxomatosis gradually declined over time as both the myxoma virus and the rabbit population changed genetically.

This page is a resource covering the history and research of Myxomatosis to control rabbits.