Don’t be alarmed if you hear gunshots coming from City Hill late at night for the next month: it’s the ACT Government exterminating rabbits.

City Hill has been infested with rabbits for some months, which have damaged the Italian pencil pines.

The ACT Government will begin a rabbit control program there on Monday. The rabbits will be fumigated and shot with air rifles, and their warrens destroyed. This will run until next month.

A qualified, certified contractor experienced in rabbit control in publicly accessible urban areas will do the job.

Rabbit control will be mostly undertaken at night when the area is generally not in public use. The area will not be formally closed, but signs will inform the community of the rabbit control operations.

“The ACT Government undertakes rabbit control to protect the ACT’s environment values, primary production, and urban landscapes,” Daniel Iglesias, Executive Branch Manager for City Presentation, said. “Control operations are currently underway in a range of parks and reserves.

“Rabbits are a declared pest under the Pest Plants and Animals Act 2005, and control operations are designed to maintain rabbit populations below a density where they can cause significant harm to the environment or to other assets …

“This control program is not only designed to protect these trees of significance, but address animal welfare concerns due to insufficient vegetation to support grazing for a large population, traffic concerns from road users braking or swerving to avoid collisions, and the risk rabbit burrowing poses to pedestrians walking through the area.”

Follow-up assessments will be undertaken after the initial operations are completed in December, to determine the effectiveness of the control program and whether any follow up action is needed, Mr Iglesias said.

Grevillea Park, bounded by Kings Avenue and Morshead Drive on the northern side of Lake Burley Griffin’s East Basin, will follow in early 2024.

“The control works have been planned under the leadership of the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate’s vertebrate pest team,” Mr Iglesias said. “It is a good example of ACT Government managers working together to address a land management problem.”

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