The Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia began to use the Easter Bilby concept in 1991 . They wanted to show the damage that feral rabbits do to the Australian environment . The Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia began to use the Easter Bilby concept in 1991 to show the damage that feral rabbits do to the Australian environment and the concept has been popularized by the confectioner Darrell Lea , which gives a portion of its profits to the foundation .