Rabbit plague threatens fragile Sthn Ocean birds

CANBERRA, Oct 24 (Reuters) Landslides caused by feral rabbits have destroyed fragile penguin colonies on a remote Australian island near Antarctica, and millions more seabirds are under threat, the environmental group WWF said today.

A plague of more than 100,000 introduced rabbits on World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island has stripped native tussock grasses, causing loss of nest cover at breeding grounds.

''There have been more than 20 landslips in the last month alone which have hit penguin colonies,'' Julie Kirkwood, WWF's Policy Officer for Invasive Species, told Reuters.

One large slip last month at Lusitania Bay, on the eastern side of the island, killed an unknown number of birds, including royal penguins. The damage was being worsened by rats and mice also living on the island, Kirkwood said.

''The damage can be controlled, but it needs to be done quickly,'' she said, calling on the Australian government to fund a 7.5 million dollar eradication programme.

Macquarie Island, about 1,500 km southeast of Tasmania in the Southern Ocean, is a breeding ground for about 4 million seabirds, including two threatened albatross species.

A 33-nation conference on biodiversity in the Southern Ocean is under way in the Tasmanian capital Hobart, and scientists at the conference are examining the report.

REUTERS SY SSC1029