Hefty $44,000 fines for anyone caught with banned rabbits in Queensland

THEY’RE cute and fluffy, but bring one over the border and you will be fined tens of thousands for your troubles.

A rabbit on a Northern NSW farm.

NEW residential estates on the Tweed Coast and further south to Iluka have been overrun with fluffy bunnies, infiltrating sand dunes and the yards of luxury beachside homes.

And authorities north of the border are hopping mad about it with feral rabbits causing $600 million of damage every year.

The Darling Downs Moreton Rabbit Board has slapped a $44,000 bounty on rabbit lovers who let their pet set foot into Queensland.

Warning signs have been placed at every main border crossing leading into the Sunshine State.

Rabbit keeping penalty warning sign on Gold Coast Highway at the NSW QLD boarder near the Coolangatta airport. There is a $44000 fine for taking rabbits from NSW into Queensland.

While it’s illegal to own pet rabbits in Queensland, NSW pet shops near the border continue to sell them.

Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board chairman councillor Ross Bartley launched an attack on pet stores selling rabbits south of the border.

Cr Bartley said there was evidence that pet stores were selling rabbits to Queenslanders without letting them know the rules.

“It is very clear we have a dirty side of the fence and a clean side of the fence and just south of the border is the dirty side,” Cr Bartley said.

“These rabbits are rodents and are viewed by Queensland as pests.”

In a show of defiance, local resorts on the north coast have begun using the rabbits as a tourist attraction, promoting the feeding of “wild rabbits” on its website.

Cr Bartley dismissed claims by NSW authorities that it was unlikely domestic rabbits could survive in the wild.

“How do you think the wild rabbits we have now started off? We’ve already seen some dirty pockets emerge on the Gold Coast and that is ­concerning.”

North Coast Local Land Services team leader Dean Chamberlain said the rabbit breakouts were isolated and linked to new development ­estates.

“We believe a lot those rabbits are likely wild rabbits rather than the floppy-eared domestic rabbits,” he said.

Lennox Head mum Liz Young bought her daughter Sarah two rabbits — Holly and George — a year ago.

Sarah, 11, has since help deliver two litters, and feeds and cleans the bunnies’ enclosure and caged area every day. The Young family is trying to find homes for up to five bunnies.

“With our litters, we’ve managed to find homes for some of them, some to other kids at Sarah’s school,” Ms Young said.

Local green groups have set up rabbit sanctuaries to look after pets who can’t find a home. But the sanctuaries are overflowing.

Rabbits breed from three months of age. A mature female rabbit can be continuously pregnant for between six to eight months per year, delivering up to 40 young in a year.