ALTHOUGH floods and mosquitoes have helped keep rabbit numbers down in Wyndham recently, seasonal baiting has begun.
Wyndham Council’s autumn rabbit-control program is in full swing with dog owners advised not to walk their dogs in some areas for the next month.
Baits of chopped carrot, treated with the poison, pindone, are being laid by a licensed contractor in Point Cook, Werribee, Werribee South and Mt Cottrell.
Vitamin K1 is the antidote for pindone, an anti-coagulant poison available from local vets notified of the baiting.
The council has warned residents not to handle carrot pieces or rabbits found in baited areas.
Warning signs were to be placed at all reserve entrances.
Council chief executive officer Kerry Thompson said rabbit populations had fallen in Wyndham due to recent floods and the subsequent increase in mosquitoes, which transmit myxomatosis - lethal to rabbits.
But the council was still required under state legislation to keep rabbit populations under control, she said, hence the continuation of the council’s rabbit eradication program.
“If not controlled, a single pair of rabbits can breed to more than 184 individuals in just 18 months,” she said.
Areas being baited until this Friday are the northern side of Skeleton Creek, between Boardwalk Blvd and Palmers Rd, and Alamanda Wetland Reserve, Point Cook; both sides of the Werribee River from Chirnside Park to the Maltby Bypass, Werribee; Grahams Reserve and K Rd Cliffs, Werribee South; and Cobbledicks Reserve, Mt Cottrell.
For more information, go to wyndham.vic.gov.au
Sourced from Wyndham Leader.
No comments:
Post a Comment