Historical records of the species occurrence in Southwest Australia indicate it was common, sometimes abundant, but the population greatly declined in this region during the twentieth century. The cause of their extirpation is largely attributed to the introduction of the red fox Vulpes vulpes, the threat from predation by cats is noted as sometimes absent where the fox had already established itself. The attempts to control another exotic pest, the European rabbit, was also a threatening factor to this species, succumbing to control methods of water poisoning and inadvertent capture in rabbit traps.[7] Bush curlew's distribution range included most of the mainland of the Australian continent, although this has become reduced by around 90%, and is also found on offshore and nearby islands.