Phase One and Two – consultation prior to the draft plan

We heard from 108 people during the first two phases of consultation.

The main findings were:

• respondents felt that rabbit numbers have increased in their local area over the past three years.
• rabbit burrowing and grazing behaviours were identified as having the most damaging impacts.
• respondents were concerned about the impacts on native flora and fauna.
• In a multiple - choice survey question: What are your main concerns about rabbits?
• 90 percent of respondents were concerned about rabbit impacts to natural areas
• 63 percent of respondents were concerned about rabbits not being controlled on public land
• of least concern was potential off - target impacts of baiting with Pindone.
• When asked about 'hotspot' areas for rabbits across the municipality the majority of respondents answered public land.
• The method most commonly used by respondents to control rabbits was Pindone baiting followed by warren fumigation and harbour removal.
• Taking an integrated control approach was recommended by the community.
• 40 percent of all comments focused on how we could support the community to control rabbits.

Phase Three – consultation on the draft plan

In total 51 respondents provided feedback via the online survey (42 completed and 9 partially completed) and we received submissions from 17 stakeholder and community groups and 3 community members.

Most respondents who completed the “Likert scale” surveys were supportive of the Plan. “Strongly agree” was the highest response received for all of the six questions followed by “agree” which was the second highest response for each question.

A total of 296 individual comments were provided via the survey and submissions. While the overall response to the plan was generally positive some comments revealed opposing views in the community relating to:

• our vision and goals primarily Goal 1
• our proposed control methods and the associated risks
• restricting control methods to protect native vegetation.

Other topics frequently commented on included:

• the importance of partnering with Landcare
• support for private landowners
• communication and engagement
• compliance and enforcement
• suggested changes to actions

Updates to the Plan

Following the final phase of consultation we made some updates to the Plan relating to the following topics:

• Revising Goal 1
• Pindone use
• Immunocontraception (and other non - lethal control technologies)
• Biocontrol agents
• Native vegetation (and other constraints)
• Controlling other pest animals
• Size of the target areas
• Extend the timing of the Plan For further detail on what we heard refer to the engagement reports available at yoursay.