Somewhere between Australia and Antarctica sits a lonely strip of land called Macquarie Island. There are no permanent inhabitants or trees, and the island is known for harsh weather, but for decades it was home to hundreds of thousands of rabbits. A 2014 study in Ecological Management & Restoration traces the island's rabbit population through a 38-year record and shows three clear phases: a spike of more than 350,000 in the late 1970s, a collapse to under 30,000 in the 1980s and early 1990s, and then a renewed rise in the 2000s. The authors argue that those swings reflected the island’s changing management regime, especially the introduction of myxomatosis and later control measures. This story begins with that rise and fall and ends with one woman, one dog, and a determined hunt for the last rabbit alive.
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