The bilby is now endangered and only found in isolated areas of central Australia, where rabbits do not occur. No known native animals have become extinct north of the range of the rabbit since European settlement. The extinction of all but three of the 30 terrestrial mammals happened in the Flinders Ranges before the fox arrived in the area. Rabbits affect native wildlife by supporting feral predator populations particularly the European fox. Rabbit impact is particularly serious in dry inland areas where trees and shrubs do not germinate regularly.
Rabbits find and eat many tree and shrub seedlings.
Many arid zone trees and shrubs are at risk of extinction unless rabbit numbers are permanently reduced to much lower levels. In arid and semi-arid Australia, rabbits at a density as low as one to two per hectare can eat all Acacia seedlings. The European rabbit is Australia's most serious animal pest and New Zealand's second most serious, after the brush-tail possum. Where native species of trees are planted in farm afforestation programs, rabbits, even at low densities, can destroy up to 90 per cent of seedlings. Grazing rabbits compete with livestock for available pasture and kill young trees and shrubs.