Declining Little Eagles 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' and increasing rabbit numbers near Canberra: is secondary poisoning by Pindone the problem?

Jerry Olsen; Steve J S Debus; David Judge

Declining Little Eagles 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' and increasing rabbit numbers near Canberra: is secondary poisoning by Pindone the problem?

Jerry Olsen
, Steve J S Debus
, David Judge

School of Environmental & Rural Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Little Eagle 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' is declining in parts of south-eastern Australia, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), even though the number of European Rabbits 'Oryctolagus cuniculus' is increasing. A nonpathogenic lagovirus related to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) is protecting rabbits from RHD in cooler areas of south-eastern Australia. Consequently, the chemicals Pindone (2-pivalyl, 3-indandione) and 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) are used to poison rabbits, and Pindone may disable raptors and/or be fatal to them. Little Eagles take proportionally more rabbits than do Wedge-tailed Eagles 'Aquila audax', so Little Eagles may be more affected by secondary poisoning. We recommend that (i) the Little Eagle be uplisted from 'vulnerable' to endangered in the ACT, and (ii) Pindone be banned in Little Eagle home ranges in the ACT.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	33-35
Journal	Corella
Volume	37
Issue number	2
Publication status	Published - 2013

Keywords

Conservation and Biodiversity
Wildlife and Habitat Management

Access to Document

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14538

Handle.net

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{93d6521a5c5e4a62af384974ee0efb6e,

title = "Declining Little Eagles 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' and increasing rabbit numbers near Canberra: is secondary poisoning by Pindone the problem?",

abstract = "The Little Eagle 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' is declining in parts of south-eastern Australia, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), even though the number of European Rabbits 'Oryctolagus cuniculus' is increasing. A nonpathogenic lagovirus related to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) is protecting rabbits from RHD in cooler areas of south-eastern Australia. Consequently, the chemicals Pindone (2-pivalyl, 3-indandione) and 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) are used to poison rabbits, and Pindone may disable raptors and/or be fatal to them. Little Eagles take proportionally more rabbits than do Wedge-tailed Eagles 'Aquila audax', so Little Eagles may be more affected by secondary poisoning. We recommend that (i) the Little Eagle be uplisted from 'vulnerable' to endangered in the ACT, and (ii) Pindone be banned in Little Eagle home ranges in the ACT.",

keywords = "Conservation and Biodiversity, Wildlife and Habitat Management",

author = "Jerry Olsen and Debus, \{Steve J S\} and David Judge",

year = "2013",

language = "English",

volume = "37",

pages = "33--35",

journal = "Corella",

issn = "0155-0438",

publisher = "Australian Bird Study Association Inc",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Declining Little Eagles 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' and increasing rabbit numbers near Canberra

T2 - is secondary poisoning by Pindone the problem?

AU - Olsen, Jerry

AU - Debus, Steve J S

AU - Judge, David

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - The Little Eagle 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' is declining in parts of south-eastern Australia, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), even though the number of European Rabbits 'Oryctolagus cuniculus' is increasing. A nonpathogenic lagovirus related to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) is protecting rabbits from RHD in cooler areas of south-eastern Australia. Consequently, the chemicals Pindone (2-pivalyl, 3-indandione) and 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) are used to poison rabbits, and Pindone may disable raptors and/or be fatal to them. Little Eagles take proportionally more rabbits than do Wedge-tailed Eagles 'Aquila audax', so Little Eagles may be more affected by secondary poisoning. We recommend that (i) the Little Eagle be uplisted from 'vulnerable' to endangered in the ACT, and (ii) Pindone be banned in Little Eagle home ranges in the ACT.

AB - The Little Eagle 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' is declining in parts of south-eastern Australia, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), even though the number of European Rabbits 'Oryctolagus cuniculus' is increasing. A nonpathogenic lagovirus related to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) is protecting rabbits from RHD in cooler areas of south-eastern Australia. Consequently, the chemicals Pindone (2-pivalyl, 3-indandione) and 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) are used to poison rabbits, and Pindone may disable raptors and/or be fatal to them. Little Eagles take proportionally more rabbits than do Wedge-tailed Eagles 'Aquila audax', so Little Eagles may be more affected by secondary poisoning. We recommend that (i) the Little Eagle be uplisted from 'vulnerable' to endangered in the ACT, and (ii) Pindone be banned in Little Eagle home ranges in the ACT.

KW - Conservation and Biodiversity

KW - Wildlife and Habitat Management

UR - http://globalraptors.org/grin/researchers/uploads/499/olsen_etal_leagle_pindone_corella13.pdf

M3 - Article

SN - 0155-0438

VL - 37

SP - 33

EP - 35

JO - Corella

JF - Corella

IS - 2

ER -

Declining Little Eagles 'Hieraaetus morphnoides' and increasing rabbit numbers near Canberra: is secondary poisoning by Pindone the problem?

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Fingerprint

Cite this