A FAMILY farm in the Mid North is desperate for answers after losing eight cattle with no explanation.
Spring Gully farmer Chris Sharp believes a rabbit virus was being tested in the area in May after noticing planes flying in a grid pattern and then finding “frozen” rabbit carcases. He believes this is connected to the death of his Dexter cattle – which he says occurred until they removed the last of the dead rabbits in July. PIRSA has firmly ruled out the claim, while a local vet was also sceptical.
Mr Sharp’s 42-hectare property runs 30 head of cattle and a few sheep, about 6 kilometres south of Clare. Other locals had also found the “stiff” rabbits, and Mr Sharp, who has worked on farms his entire life, says age was no discrimination.
“All cattle were different ages, and it coincides with the rabbits and the planes doing grid patterns. We only get one or two planes here a day. It was just weird,” he said.
Mr Sharp said the timeline of events was strange, and none of his sheep or lambs were affected.
“We looked for poisonous plants, and after finding a dead rabbit, a week later the first heifer went down,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, they normally blow up but they were completely dehydrated, sucked dry. The cattle would be fine in the morning, then 1pm, dead.”
Mr Sharp said he had seen all kinds of poisons in cattle, but the deaths started when they found the first dead rabbits and it finished when they removed the last. Chris’ mother Ann said it was “odd” to find rabbit carcases, then a fortnight later PIRSA were calling for remains.
“A month after the planes, they put out a call for rabbit carcases. I have to question why they wanted them if they weren’t doing a trial?” she said.
“There has been hardly the number of kangaroos and deer. We used to have plague proportions, and now, nothing. It’s concerning.”
PIRSA ruled out calicivirus as a cause of cattle death and is continuing to investigate. It said the call for rabbit carcases was due to Biosecurity SA collecting dead rabbits for testing as a new strain of calicivirus swept through rabbit colonies.
”The haemorrhagic virus strain RHDV2 was first detected in Murray Bridge and is established throughout the state. Biosecurity SA researchers are monitoring the impact and spread of the virus with help from landowners reporting sightings of dead rabbits,” a PIRSA spokesperson said.
“Indications from the investigation work conducted so far are that no exotic diseases are responsible for these unexplained (cattle) deaths.”
Clare veterinarian Sophie Mills said it was unlikely a rabbit virus would crossover and have any impact on cattle.
“We don’t normally see a crossover between species,” she said.
Last week, PIRSA released an alert on pulpy kidney saying it “may be contributing to livestock deaths in the Hawker/Cradock area”.
Livestock SA president Geoff Power said the cattle deaths were a “mystery” and called for a project to be established as 400 cattle had died at Hawker in 2015, and more this year. There were also reports of cattle losses in NSW and kangaroo deaths locally.
“Samples have been sent away and results will take some time,” he said.
“Biosecurity SA needs a proposal for Meat & Livestock Australia to start a project. It has been going on for so long and we need answers.”
