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Rabbits
In the Roxby Downs area, rabbit numbers have been measured at densities of more than 600 per km². Rabbits, along with domestic stock, considerably reduce grass cover which reduces food and shelter for native species. This reduction in vegetation cover increases the susceptibility of small animals to predation by cats and foxes.
The Arid Recovery Reserve was established in response to the dramatic drop in rabbit numbers after the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease (RCD) reached the Roxby Downs region (see the History page for more information).
The reserve was fenced in stages, with rabbit control in each stage becoming more efficient as better control methods were developed. Rabbits were completely eradicated from a 60km² area in 2001 using a combination of 1080 poisoning, warren fumigation, trapping and shooting.
Spotlight counts indicate that rabbit densities outside the reserve increase periodically, but have still not reached pre-RCD levels.
Cats & Foxes
Feral cats are abundant in the Roxby Downs region and can each kill up to 30 native animals a day. Medium-sized mammals between 35g and 5.5kg are the most susceptible to predation by both cats and foxes due to their size.
Research has shown that feral cats in the Roxby Downs region have preyed on 54 species of native vertebrates, including six mammals, 34 reptiles, 13 birds and one frog species.
Cats and Foxes were completely eradicated from the main 14km² exclosure in 1998 and from 60km² of the reserve in early 2001.
Twenty permanent traps, with audio lures and soft rubber foot-hold traps, are set outside the perimeter fence of the reserve and checked daily using remote telemetry tracking developed by Observant and Arid Recovery.
We have also been undertaking an intergrated pest management program (baiting, trapping and shooting) in a 200 square km unfenced area adjacent to the reserve (dubbed the Wild West) to allow a wild population of the Greater Bilby to thrive. So far cat and fox numbers have been kept to low levels in this area and bilbies are still present in the area.
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