Wild Rabbits of North America Getting Killed By A Deadly Virus

The Chromoscience

Ecology

Wild Rabbits of North America Getting Killed By A Deadly Virus

Benison P. Zerrudo

June 2, 2020

1–2 minutes

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Wild rabbits in the southwestern part of North America are getting infected with a deadly virus. The virus has already affected rabbits in Southern California.
The infecting culprit is called rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 or RHDV2 which is a lagovirus in the family Caliciviridae. Rabbits, hares, and pikas are the natural hosts for this virus.
The situation is awful that scientists can only watch the spread and worry about species on the danger path.
The virus started spreading in Europe and China in the 1980s infecting domestic rabbit species and has reached the Australian soil. In 2010, a new strain of the virus appeared in France killing the wild species.
The virus also spread in Spain and Portugal, and more than half of the rabbit population has been killed. This causes a chain reaction in animal population and predators such as Spanish imperial eagle and Iberian lynx that depend on rabbits also decline approximately 50 percent.
The virus can survive in dead animals for 3 months and can be spread through the feces of predators and insects.
The virus is expected to spread throughout North America.
The virus is affecting Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and part of northern Mexico.
Some of the affected rabbit species are already declared federally endangered.
The mortality rate for this virus averages at about 85 percent.
There is no vaccine currently available for the disease.
The disease symptoms include loss of appetite, lethargy, high fever, seizures, jaundice, bleeding from nose, mouth, or rectum, difficulty breathing, and sudden death.