They degrade ecosystems and landscapes damage community infrastructure and impact agricultural production. As a land manager we have a responsibility to prevent the spread of rabbits and where possible eradicate them.

The purpose of this document is to explain how we plan to control rabbits on City - managed land while supporting the community to reduce their impact more broadly.

We discuss the impact rabbits are having in the Greater Geelong region and outline our rabbit control commitments. We also set out a methodology to achieve effective rabbit control using an integrated approach and for collaborating with the community to reduce rabbit impacts.

Finally we set out our vision goals and actions for the next five years.

In developing this plan we have considered the following:

• pest animal legislation and our responsibilities as a land manager
• industry best - practice and advice sourced from industry experts including the Victorian Rabbit Action Network (VRAN) the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and Agriculture Victoria
• rabbit control constraints and risks
• the views of the community (including Landcare groups and our Rural Peri - Urban Advisory Committee) and stakeholders who participated in our community engagement process (what we heard)
• our role in supporting the rural community to address land management issues
• appropriate ways to prioritise rabbit control given the size of our municipality and
• how best to monitor and continuously improve our rabbit control activities.

Figure 1: A rabbit - proof fence protects an indigenous grassland at Mount Brandon (Barwon and Moorabool River Reserve) Highton. Rabbit grazing impacts are evident outside of the fenced area.