The intention is to build a regional ‘‘rabbit map'' for Otago and Canterbury and extend it to other rabbit-prone areas such as Hawkes Bay and Marlborough.
It would be a free resource for landholders, the community and pest controllers to record and map rabbit activity in their local area, while people were also needed to advise where there were no sightings of rabbits.
Dr Janine Duckworth, leader of Landcare Research's rabbit biocontrol initiative, said an important aspect of the tool was providing information on how rabbit numbers were changing.
There had been changes in land-use since the last time mapping was done, in the late 1990s, because of increased irrigation and the effect of tenure review in the high country.
It would also be useful for regional councils to help with some of their decision making, she said.
Last year, Otago Regional Council officials said that, in some parts of Central Otago, rabbit numbers had reached or exceeded levels before rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) was released in 1997.
Dr Duckworth is hoping for public support to raise the $80,000 needed through the online crowd-funding platform PledgeMe. At this stage, there were no other avenues for funding, she said.
Last night the campaign had raised $970 towards the $80,000 sought, with a month to go.
The New Zealand Rabbit Co-ordination Group was working with Landcare Research to seek approval to introduce a Korean strain of the lethal calicivirus that causes RHD. It was hoped it could help farmers slash rabbit numbers by up to 30%.
Approval from the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Environment Protection Authority was required before it could be imported.
That process was at the ‘‘very beginning'' and it was expected to take about a year, Dr Duckworth said.
Once that approval was gained, the mapping tool would be useful to ensure there was a good release of the virus, she said.
