The handbook has been produced jointly by the Anti-Rabbit Research Foundation of Australia (ARRFA) and the RCD management Group, another national body.

100 000 copies of the booklet will be distributed free of charge throughout Australia by Pest Control agencies in each state and territory.

"Rabbits are Australia's greatest vertebrate feral pest'" said Dr Rob Morrison, ARRFA's Chairman. "Calicivirus has given us the best chance in fifty years of reducing rabbit numbers, but without continued conventional rabbit control, such as ripping warrens and laying poison, Calicivirus can not complete the job on its own."

"Myxomatosis was very effective when it was first used," said Dr Morrison, "but rabbits developed immunity and their numbers increased again. This handbook shows land managers and landowners how they can best work with Calicivirus to reduce rabbit numbers on their properties to ensure that we don't make the same mistake again."

The handbook will be launched by Professor Frank Fenner, who pioneered the introduction of myxomatosis some fifty years ago. The Handbook will also be placed on the internet to ensure widespread access to the information in it.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LAUNCH OF RCD HANDBOOK


NATIONAL HANDBOOK GIVES NEW LEAD ON RABBIT CONTROL

The release of Rabbit Calicivirus (RCD) around Australia in September 1996 dealt a major blow against the rabbit, Australia's greatest vertebrate feral pest. As RCD spread, rabbit populations in arid parts of Australia fell almost overnight by as much as 95%.

RCD has been hailed as the most important control agent to appear since the introduction of myxomatosis fifty years ago, but scientists have cautioned that no biological agent can do the job on its own. Some rabbits develop immunity and survive, allowing populations to climb again as they did following the use of myxomatosis.

Rabbits cost Australia over one billion dollars every year; $600 000 of that being agricultural costs alone. Landowners have been urged to redouble their efforts at rabbit control by traditional means, ripping warrens and using baits to clean up rabbits that survive the initial impact of RCD, but many landowners are unsure of the best techniques to use, how to apply them, and how to ensure that their efforts will be effective.

The Anti-Rabbit Research Foundation of Australia (ARRFA) and the RCD Management Group (a national agency) have combined to produce a field handbook which contains up-to-date information on RCD, how landowners can make the most effective use of it and follow-up techniques that they can use to maximise its impact.

The handbook was written by Dr Brian Coman, an active RCD researcher, and its full title is :

RABBIT CONTROL AND RABBIT CALICIVIRUS DISEASE:
A Field Handbook for Land Managers in Australia.

The handbook includes:

* data and information on the need for rabbit control
* background on RCD, how it works, its history and introduction
* how to identify rabbits killed by RCD
* how to obtain RCD
* how to maximise the effect of RCD with appropriate follow-up action
* ongoing research on RCD
* how to obtain further information.

The handbook will be launched at 11:30 am, December 16 at Barwon Park in Gelong, Victoria, where Thomas Austin first released European rabbits into Australia in 1859. it will be launched by Prof Frank Fenner, who performed the initial research on myxomatosis and was instrumental in its introduction to Australia.

The handbook has been jointly produced by ARRFA and the RCD Management Group, and was made possible by sponsorship from a number of other organisations, including Rotary's ACRE project, The Adelaide Zoo, Monarto Zoological Park, The National Parks Foundation of SA, The SA National Parks and Wildlife Service, WMC and some individual benefactors.

While RCD has only been released for about one year, monitoring shows that it is most effective in arid and semi-arid areas; less effective in cool temperate zones. As the handbook explains, new techniques of spreading the virus by means of baits are being trialled. promising a cheaper and perhaps more effective method of rabbit control in cooler areas. In the meantime, conventional rabbit control procedures are essential to prevent rabbit populations from recovering following the initial impact of RCD.