use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $string = "RABBIT 45 -126.06686";
my @parts = split /\s+/, $string;
print Dumper(\@parts);

__END__

$VAR1 = [
          'RABBIT',
          '45',
          '-126.06686'
        ];
[download]

Also, the code you posted has a compile error.