November 2012

Members of the Rabbit Control Group (RCG) agreed at their October 2012 meeting to standardise the wording of the Modified McLean Scale (download PDF).

The scale is the tool councils use to determine rabbit abundance in their regulatory role of ensuring landowners control rabbit numbers to required levels.

Slight differences in wording had evolved in various regions but these have now been resolved and a single national standard agreed that provides consistent guidance. For citing purposes, it will be known as the Modified McLean Scale (2012).

The changes include a reduction from ten to eight levels of rabbit abundance as well as amended definitions of the levels — in particular, levels 3 to 5, the levels where regulators and landowners most need to make judgments about compliance and the need to take rabbit control action.

The Modified McLean Scale (2012) will soon be incorporated into an updated edition of  the NPCA best practice guideline publication A5, Pest Rabbits Monitoring and Control.