Sadly, the highly infectious virus, myxomatosis, is in the area and is now affecting rabbits on Cowbar.
In its natural hosts in the Americas, it is a mild disease. However, it was intentionally introduced in Australia, France, and Chile in the 1950s (arriving in 1953 in the UK) to control wild rabbit populations. It is severe and usually fatal in European rabbits.
The disease is now endemic and although wild rabbit populations are slowly becoming more resistant, many of them will die. This will inevitably have some effect on the population of their natural predators. On Cowbar, these predators include foxes, hawks and weasels.
We saw the first affected rabbits here at the start of August.
Symptoms are swelling, respiratory problems, redness and ulcers with eye and nose discharge. The rabbit’s eyes become inflamed and it will go blind. The first sign that myxomatosis is present in an area can be rabbits out in the daylight, sometimes in a confused state or behaving lethargically because of these symptoms.
There is no cure for myxomatosis. If you come across a wild rabbit with symptoms, the advice is to wear gloves, try to confine it and take it to a vet to be euthanised. In practice this is almost impossible.
Other animals and humans cannot catch myxomatosis but pet rabbits can, often from blood-sucking insects. They can be vaccinated against it however.
Pet rabbits should also be vaccinated against viral haemorrhagic disease (RHDV). This is another disease cultivated and spread by humans in some places to control the rabbit population.