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https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/bunny-ebola-rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease/
A deadly virus is spreading with alarming speed among wild and domestic rabbits in seven southwestern states. The contagion causes an illness called rabbit hemorrhagic disease that has earned the nickname "bunny Ebola" because the disease causes massive internal bleeding and bloody discharge around the nose and mouth. The virus kills swiftly—as happened in February, when pet rabbits boarding at a veterinary practice in Manhattan suddenly began to die without warning, The New Yorker reported last month.
The disease is deeply worrying for domestic rabbit owners and could also have consequences for wild rabbit, hare, and pika populations. An outbreak last year in northwestern Washington state had devastating impacts on both feral and pet rabbits. Now animal health officials are tracking its spread and trying to protect their most endangered rabbits from a disease that is very contagious and has a high mortality rate.
"They both represent a longtime fear that has come true," says Susan Kerr, an education and outreach specialist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
[...] Known as rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2), it can kill infected rabbits within a few days by causing widespread inflammation, problems with blood clotting and bleeding, and organ failure. "The organs can't do their functions anymore because there is so much blood in them," Kerr says.
The virus has many qualities that make it a formidable threat. During an outbreak, anywhere from 40 to 100 percent of infected rabbits will perish; the afflicted southwestern states are currently reporting a mortality rate of around 90 percent. It can survive in the environment or within a recovered host for weeks to months and thrives at freezing temperatures. It also can't be killed with soap.
"It can be carried on the feet of flies or on the feathers of birds or in the fur of scavengers, so it can just physically be moved around very easily," Kerr says. "The virus can move in water and if it gets on dust it can move in the wind."
There are several ways that we can protect pet buns. There is a vaccine for RHDV2, although it's not currently licensed in the US and must be imported from Europe. By avoiding bringing in pine boughs for bedding or clover and grass as a treat, Kerr says, people can prevent their rabbits from coming into contact with foliage that infected rabbits or scavengers that have feasted on the carcasses of infected rabbits may have passed through.
Shielding wild and feral rabbits from the virus is another story.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday July 27 2020, @03:04AM (7 children)
nothing of value was lost [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 27 2020, @03:42AM
... unless the virus jumps from rabbits to humans.
Not like it [cdc.gov] can't happen [who.int].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday July 27 2020, @03:46AM (3 children)
I have seen the damage rabbits do to environments they did not evolve in. It is not pretty.
Some idiot farmers imported one of these calicivirus to kill off the plague of rabbits we had, but they did it after the rabbits had bred, so a whole generation of resistant rabbits were raised.
They were warned not to do it too. Such a shame.
Now they have the Great Easter Bunny Hunt every year.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Tuesday July 28 2020, @04:11AM (2 children)
The RHDV calicivirus was not imported into Australia by "some idiot farmers" it was introduced as part of a controlled program by the CSIRO [csiro.au]. There was an escape from quarantine during testing which impacted the effectiveness of the virus but the more recent release of RHDV2 has been very effective in my experience. These methods of feral rabbit control are not, and have never been promoted as, a means to eradicate the rabbit population from the entire continent. They are one of a number of methods, including baiting and shooting, to reduce the impact of these pests on agricultural production.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday July 28 2020, @09:51PM (1 child)
I'm aware.
I don't live in Australia. That is where the farmers smuggled the virus from though.
There was a plan to introduce the virus at the best time to suppress the population in the most effective manner, but the farmers involved decided not to wait, and the rabbit populations bounced back fairly quickly.
I know who one of those farmers is, and some of his neighbours still won't talk to him.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Wednesday July 29 2020, @03:20AM
Ah, OK then. Given that you were replying to a post about rabbits in Australia it was a reasonable assumption to make though.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday July 27 2020, @06:19AM (1 child)
I'm in a state of perpetual surprise that keeping pet rabbits here is actually still legal.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @05:36PM
In New York, many Blacks give their children pet rats and tell them they're city rabbits. The pickanninnies don't know any better so it's a win-win.