THIS February, Maude Landcare Group\u2019s annual rabbit-baiting campaign saw forty people spread three doses of Pindone poison across their respective large properties.<\/p>\n
With assistance from a contractor from Barongarook, the Landcare group distributed bags of anticoagulant-spiked carrots over three separate dates from a local shed, which landowners had pre-ordered.<\/p>\n
Lex Stray said the baiting program of 20-plus years was successful again, targeted at broad-acre farmers that have big populations of wild rabbits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe seem now to have gotten over the suspicion with Pindone of many years. A few farmers didn\u2019t think it worked because they weren\u2019t seeing dead rabbits, but… most of them die in their burrows, and you find very little on the surface,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stopped using 1080 some years ago because it\u2019s dangerous and brutal, and now everybody has come round to Pindone, which is cumulative, such safer, and takes at least two feeds to be enough to kill them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps to destroy burrows and gorse bushes while everything\u2019s in a weakened state, so it takes a bit of effort to do it properly, but the main thing is that the rabbits have gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbits can damage and foul farmers\u2019 pastures, causing loss of plants and land erosion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn lighter soils, where it\u2019s easy-digging, erosion is a factor. Sometimes you see hillsides honeycombed with warrens, get a big dump of rain, and all of a sudden, you lose half your hillside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky to have wedge tailed eagles here, and they do feed on rabbits,\u201d Ms Stray said.<\/p>\n
A long-term staple in the Maude Landcare Group\u2019s calendar, they\u2019re looking to do it all again at the same time in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot many Landcare groups do this, so we always say to people that if you\u2019re a little further away but prepared to come and get the bait, then you\u2019re most welcome to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had people from all around the tracks involved; Balyang, to Mount Mercer and beyond, and we certainly would never stop anyone from being a part of it,\u201d Ms Stray said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just so grateful that people have got enough interest to \u2018hop in\u2019 and take part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hares tend not to take to Pindone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THIS February, Maude Landcare Group\u2019s annual rabbit-baiting campaign saw forty people spread three doses of Pindone poison across their respective large properties. With assistance from a contractor from Barongarook, the Landcare group distributed bags of anticoagulant-spiked carrots over three separate dates from a local shed, which landowners had pre-ordered. Lex Stray said the baiting program […]<\/p>\n