Toughest anti-rabbit regime in the world rejects calls to make pet bunnies legal

The Queensland Government in north-east Australia has rejected calls to make pet rabbits legal, with Agriculture Minister John McVeigh saying two online petitions and a campaign calling for pet bunnies to be approved will fall on deaf ears when they are submitted later this year. Queensland has the toughest anti-rabbit regime in the world, with penalties of $44,000 and six months in prison. The Pet Industry Association of Queensland (PIAQ) said the Government was out of step. PIAQ president Paul Westaway said Queensland was the only place on the planet where it was illegal to keep domestic rabbits. "The fine and jail term for having a rabbit in Queensland exceeds quite a lot of other violent crimes," he said.

Mr Westaway said thousands of domestic rabbits were kept illegally in Queensland and the state was missing an opportunity to regulate and manage ownership. "We've proved as an industry that we can handle any sort of regulation or record keeping," he said. Alyson Shepherd, who heads the campaign to legalise domestic rabbits, said she smuggled her rabbit across the border when she moved from Melbourne. "I had plenty of access to food and toys for her - I also found a vet who would look after 'long-eared guinea pigs' and who agreed to give her annual vaccination, as long as she was desexed and micro-chipped," she said. But eventually, her rabbit got sick when her vet was away and she died. "I'm petitioning the Government to allow a desexed, micro-chipped, domesticated rabbit and allow us Queenslanders the choice to own a rabbit as a pet," she said.



The campaign has gained support from an unlikely ally. Ipswich City Councillor David Pahlke said desexed, micro-chipped domestic rabbits would not do any harm. The Ipswich council was one of eight member councils that funds the Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board (DDMRB), the authority responsible for maintaining Queensland's rabbit proof fence. But Ipswich had a rabbit problem and Cr Pahlke said pet rabbits were not the problem. "I think there needs to be a full review into the worthiness of the fence - it just doesn't seem to be working," he said. "We have rabbits throughout southern Queensland and in pockets in other places in Queensland - it's not working, the rabbit has bolted." Fellow Ipswich councillor Andrew Antonelli said residents were paying for the fence and for local eradication costs and at the very least, areas like Brisbane should chip in for the fence costs.

"I think it's time we revisited the whole issue of rabbits," he said. The DDMRB is the last of its kind in the country and is still holding the line with 555 kilometres of rabbit-proof fence, which runs from Mount Gipps near Rathdowney to Miles in southern Queensland. DDMRB control officer Will Dobbie said the fence protected important farming regions like the Lockyer Valley from significant economic damage. "I understand people think rabbits are cute, but there is not a lot of difference in wanting to have a pet cane toad for example," he said. "Both species have had traumatic environmental impacts on Australian ecology, and yet because the rabbit's cute, people have a desire to keep them." But he conceded rabbits were on the run outside of the DDMRB's controlled area. "Rabbits now are quite widespread in Queensland," he said.