Pests plague region

Andrew Mathieson
PEST animal populations are rising in the Geelong region as authorities fight to control their spread.
Authorities have reported that rabbits are running rampant in rural areas, while mice and even rats are increasingly appearing in suburban homes.
Experts attributed the rise to pest animals searching for food and warmth as winter approached.
Department of Primary Industries rabbit project manager Jason Riethmuller said populations were rising again.
“We’ve had 10 years of really low rabbit numbers and our monitoring is showing they’re starting to increase in numbers from the very low levels they were at,” he said.
The latest official count revealed the region’s rabbit population had doubled in “an upward trend” after the release of calicivirus to kill rabbits around Geelong in 1996.
“We need to make sure we stay vigilant or they’ll keep breeding,” Mr Riethmuller said.
“In Freshwater Creek and Waurn Ponds areas the key is making sure there’s a consistent level of controls over all properties to keep rabbit numbers low.”
Department of Primary Industry is targeting pest control programs at Freshwater Creek, Mt Duneed, Waurn Ponds and Meredith to reduce rabbits to less than two a square kilometre.
Mr Riethmuller said the department was coordinating its strategy with landholders to include warren-ripping, fumigation, baiting, shooting, fencing and “harbour removal” to protect public assets and native flora.
“In the Geelong area it’s particularly around any of the steep slopes where they eat all the vegetation off and you end up with bare soil,” Mr Riethmuller said.
“It makes the ground more susceptible to soil erosion.”
Authorities have also run a series of public notices advertising programs laying poison baits for foxes around the region.
City of Greater Geelong reported an increase in rodents.
The Health Act obliges the City to eliminate rat and mouse infestations on private property and council land.
A spokesperson said the City had received reports of mice in houses, sheds and among piles of litter.
“This year Geelong, and many other areas, has experienced an early spell of cold weather, including unseasonable snowfalls in higher areas, and this makes rodents scurry from their usual habitats, looking for warmth,” the said.
The City would treat reported problems and closely monitor areas with histories as breeding grounds for mice, the spokesperson said.