A dead rabbit killed by RCD was found by a farmer on Monday. RCD has also been reported in the hills around Redcliffs.

Canterbury Regional Council pest services manager Ian Lucas said the reports meant pockets of RCD were so close to Christchurch that rabbit owners needed to take care.

"It's time to inoculate pet rabbits as RCD is now here," Mr Lucas said.

The Swannanoa report was significant in that it was at least 7km from the only planned RCD release he had heard of in the area.

RCD was turning out to be unpredictable in both its performance and in where it turned up.

"This is turning out to be the pest control season we cannot plan for," he said.

The release of RCD in the South Island had raised hopes it would wipe out so many rabbits that traditional pest control steps would not be needed.

As mixed reports of the kill rate of RCD were compiled Canterbury Regional Council staff and farmers were starting to consider normal pest control steps such as poisoning.

Mr Lucas said he was making tentative inquiries about carrot supplies this week.

He said he was convinced some rabbits had developed immunity to RCD. In areas where rabbit infestation was high, rabbits would be tested for immunity. If they proved RCD-resistant, poison would be laid.

The Press - January 28, 1998

RCD reaches Port Hills

Rabbit calicivirus disease has arrived on the Port Hills with reports of dead rabbits in the hills around Redcliffs. However, it has had only limited effect over much of the Canterbury Plains.

In the Mackenzie area, where farmers introduced RCD, the virus has taken a heavy toll of rabbits but the results are more patchy elsewhere.

Canterbury Regional Council pest services manager Ian Lucas said RCD had reportedly hit the Port Hills, stalled in McLeans Island, and had done little in most parts of the Canterbury Plains.

Canterbury Regional Council staff had no specimens of the dead rabbits but RCD was now common enough to be the likely source of the deaths. Some form of immunity developing among rabbits was possible, Mr Lucas said.

Christchurch virologist Dr Lance Jennings said there was no evidence to suggest humans were affected by the disease.

Dr Jennings, Ministry of Health study group spokesman, said blood samples from 120 people living close to the original RCD outbreak in Central Otago were being tested in Christchurch.

He said he hoped to complete testing of the samples for RCD antibodies by the end of March. "We will decide what the next step will be on the basis of the information we receive."

Dr Jennings said humans produced antibodies in reaction to viral infections and to viral antigens, the latter being the basis of immunisation.

A helicopter survey over the Clarence Valley area on Monday showed signs of a resurgent rabbit population after a dramatic drop in an earlier assessment.

Farmers who had hoped for the high kill rates of their Mackenzie peers were now considering more traditional control measures, Mr Lucas said. "In Mackenzie they got in at the right time to get the bulk of the adult population," he said. The hot weather appeared to have slowed the spread of the disease.

Some farmers were now trying to re-release RCD, he said.

Mackenzie farmers said yesterday that RCD had "blitzed" the rabbit population in their area, the worst for the pest in New Zealand.

Haldon station manager Paddy Boyd said few rabbits were on the vast property inland from Burkes Pass. The station had just been mustered and there was still grass on some back blocks, in spite of three months of hot winds, because it was not being eaten by rabbits, he said.

Rabbits were still in pockets that had not had contact with the virus.

Mr Boyd said the initial virus might have lost its effectiveness, as he had not seen many fresh carcasses. It might have to be reintroduced if rabbit numbers rose, he said.

He had not noticed signs of rabbits building up an immunity.

Surviving rabbits caught from areas that had been infected had been given the virus, and died within 24 hours. The virus also killed young rabbits, he said.

Twizel station owner Malcolm Walls said RCD was working well in the region; his property had few rabbits.