Viral Haemorrhagic Disease

[Wightwings]

I know NOTHING about this disease only that it kills rabbits suddenly and i believe we have a lot developing down here on the south Coast.

everyones input here greatly appreciated as i believe it could eventually pose a bigger threat to out rabbit population than Mixy.......

Any info please guys and gals?

[Jester]

and how does it effect birds if at all :?: you never know he might get one one day :mrgreen:



the optimist

[IAmTheWeasel]

Here is a good link about it....
http://www.uga.edu/scwds/topic_index/1996/RUNAWA~1.pdf

[Wightwings]

WOW..............good reading weasel, although a little worrying to those of us interested in rabbit hawking.

thanks for that.

[IAmTheWeasel]

Here is what they say of it in the USA
http://www.4-h.uiuc.edu/projects/rabbit.html

[ChicM]

Scary indeed. If Varmint is right then it's already on my doorstep here. Think also guys about what this will do to the wild populations of buzzards and newly introduced red kites here.

[Sighthound]

I've cut and pasted this from one of my posts in another topic.

.........as I said it all but wiped out a prime rabbit area I had, it is only now recovering 3 years later. I notice now it is not a reportable disease. which IMHO will only encourage it's spread by unscrupulous landowners.
One thing I noticed was that the rabbits just seemed to disappear, I believe this is due to the fact that unlike myxy it is a quick killer and therefore is not visible with the rabbit often dieing in the burrow.
Rabbits that are found dead are often in apparent good condition ie not wasted away like a myxy rabbit. If you do find a rabbit like this I believe a post mortem can confirm the virus is present.
Try this link http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Rabbits/vhdmsg.html

[Sprout]

As you've probably all read this is an extremely virulent problem and often rabbits are just found ead before symptoms are observed. In pet rabbits there are vaccines but obviously no use for the wild stock. Once it's on the land then it will spread extremely quickly. Most responsible falconers will generally respect their hunting land and not over hawk it etc but if VHD is present this might give a reason for over-hunting a particular land. By reducing numbers quickly there will be a smaller reservoir for the virus and hopefully less likely to spread so although the population may be decimated for a few seasons it should hopefully recover for future hawking rather than the entire population succumbing to the disease. Just a thought!

[Ian Wileman]

http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/raptors.htm

READ THIS!

[Wightwings]

bl00dy hell that a powrfull read ian....not read it all will print it off from work 2morrow ( tight @rse with me own ink :roll: )

how does this bode for our native scavangers like the buzzard and the kite?

blummin Ned Kellies have a lot to answer for.............i must admit i did not know mixy came from there also. If this happened over here the anti this and that would be all over it.

worrying reading if you ask me

[Varmint]

Worrying stuff? thanx Guys.

When i rang the estate factor about this last week, he seemed almost pleased withe the news and said that they had proved a link between the spread of disease by rabbits in farm livestock.

His exact words were " i hope it kills every one of em?"

Sad attitude toward a base food chain species eh?

Good job your not up here Karl! Jade takes all her time to catch one, never mind wipeing out an infected population :lol:

[Ian Wileman]

We can only hope that our old adversary, Mr Rarebit is as successful at overcoming this as he is with everything else we throw at him! i.e Mixy, cyanide, dogs, ferrets, guns, habitat change, hawks and the M6 motorway! Imagine life without him! Oh Crip!

[Saker-Clive]

If VHD is the one I think it is; it can be seen when you open up the rabbit and look at the liver. With Myx, the liver has white spots but with VHD, it has yellowish blotches.
We found some last year on a few we shot. We subsequently bundled them up and set light to them.