The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development established a position regarding wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), due to their biological characteristics as an invasive exotic species, through the Resolution 474 / 2020.
The measure, published this Thursday (30.12.2020) in the Official Gazette, declares “wild populations of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) harmful and detrimental to the conservation of biodiversity and productive activities, due to their biological characteristics as an invasive exotic species.”
For this reason, the organization “prohibits importation, interjurisdictional transit, breeding and trade in federal jurisdiction of living animals, from wild populations of the species.”
According to the resolution, The European or Castilian rabbit has been declared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as one of the hundred most harmful invasive exotic organisms globally.
It is “a herbivore introduced by humans to obtain animal protein and use its leather and skin industrially on the island of Tierra del Fuego in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, it has shown to behave like a true invasive exotic species in Patagonia, with a permanent activity of dispersion and invasion of new areas, strongly impacting native forests and livestock, damaging crops and natural pastures,” the regulations explain.
He also points out that “Its impact is significant on livestock and forests, damaging crops and grasslands and the expansion of its populations."caused serious damage to biodiversity, traditional animal production and the archaeological heritage of the Large Island of Tierra del Fuego.
The regulations recall that control strategies such as the introduction of the grey fox and the inoculation of the myxomatosis virus were implemented, which led to a significant reduction in the European rabbit population. However, the species has spread "in the last 20 years" mainly in the area of the Ushuaia Peninsula and mostly on the runways of the Ushuaia International Airport 'Islas Malvinas', constituting a risk factor for commercial air activity.
Consequently, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development resolves the population control of the species and "authorizes the National Directorate of Biodiversity to coordinate with the competent authorities in matters of wildlife the prevention, control or eradication of wild populations of the European rabbit species."
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