Wild European rabbit recovery plans: are we learning from the mistakes?

PACIOS PALMA, ISABEL; PEREZ DE AYALA, RAMÓN; ROUCO, CARLOS

Montpellier

Congreso; VI World Lagomorph Conference; 2022

World Lagomorph Society - SupAgro

The wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is an endemic species in the Iberian Peninsula that has undergone a progressive decrease in abundance due to two viral diseases (i.e. myxomatosis and rabbit haemorragic disease), acting together with human-induced habitat changes (e.g. agricultural intensification, habitat loss and fragmentation). On top of that, the arrival of a new variant of rabbit haemorragic disease virus in the last decade yielded another decline in wild populations throughout their native range, even recording local extinctions. In this regard, wild rabbit scarcity has become a major concern given its economical and its ecological value, being recently listed as an endangered species within its native range according to the IUCN Red List categories (IUCN 2019). In order to recover or boost wild rabbit populations, a wide variety of management measures have been traditionally implemented: habitat management, rabbit restocking or translocations, predator control or exclusion, vaccination campaigns or game regulation. Nevertheless, many recovery attempts have failed in spite of both massive efforts and bulky investments. In many cases, management strategies have been misdirected since they focus on the species conservation without accounting the entire ecosystem. Despite of the recommendations made by researchers, there are still many wildlife or hunters managers that implement unplanned and improvised activities, compromising the viability of wild populations. In this sense, the coordination among different researchers, managers, stakeholders and government working on wild rabbit recovery plans, is critical to guarantee the overall success of the program. Additionally, a rigorous, standardized monitoring protocol is needed to evaluate the status of the species and help to solve any problem during management operations. Here we review some examples of why management measures may have flawed and discuss actuations aimed at boosting wild rabbit populations in the context of rabbit conservation in Spain, pointing out both good practices and deficiencies, as well as suggesting potential solutions.