A virulent disease considered 90% fatal is suspected to be behind the “complete disappearance” of wild rabbits in some rural areas locally. Animal welfare experts fear it is being caused by a new strain of the deadly RHD2 virus and will kill their domestic cousins if they are not vaccinated.
RHD2 transmits easily and spreads rapidly through direct contact between rabbits and poses the most serious risk since myxomatosis decimated the wild rabbit population. The variant may have evolved more recently. It can linger on surfaces and clothes, which makes the pet rabbit population particularly vulnerable although effective veterinary vaccinations do exist.
The original RHDV – which stands for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus – has been in Britain for more than 30 years and is thought to have originated in China. The disease causes death within two days by attacking the animal’s internal organs, such as the liver.
The British Rabbit Council’s (BRC) Hazel Elliott said, “I think it is most likely that every (recent) outbreak is of the new variant of the virus and is proving to be very virulent and anyone with unvaccinated (breeding) stock is losing very large numbers. We have instances of BRC members losing between two and 100 rabbits. This will have originated in the wild population and entered the domestic animals through greens (feed) and hay, or a dog that may have sniffed an infected rabbit carcass or from flies on a carcass. It is so easily transmittable.”
Tree surgeon and naturalist Theo McCausland, who works all over Kent and Sussex, said the new strain is similar to myxomatosis which was introduced to Britain in the 1950s to control a British rabbit population explosion. “This one is pretty barbaric. There are areas around here where you would expect to see more rabbits and they’re just not there any more. In some places, they have disappeared completely. I’m always cautious about blaming one thing or the other. It could be the disease or a new strain of it, it could be predation or the population has moved for other reasons, such as burrows becoming flooded. So there are many factors why rabbits might die out in certain areas.”
He said rabbit is important to the wild food chain in Kent, with foxes and buzzards heavily reliant on the rodent. “Animals will only stay where there is a reliable source of food but foxes will tend to try and find something else to target, like people’s chicken houses, but that’s a whole different story.”
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