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Quick & curious · Nature

A few rabbits for hunting became a plague.

In 1859 Thomas Austin released rabbits. Within ten years, two million a year could be shot or trapped – with no noticeable effect.

A grey-brown wild rabbit sitting alert in the grass
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Original

The story behind it

A few rabbits for hunting became a plague.

In October 1859 Thomas Austin released wild rabbits on his estate, Barwon Park in Victoria, to hunt them. They spread faster than any other mammal ever recorded. Between 1901 and 1907 Western Australia built a rabbit-proof fence – in vain.

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. Wikipedia: Rabbits in Australia (accessed 2026-10-07)
  2. Wikipedia: European rabbit (accessed 2026-10-07)

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