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Vaccine available for B.C. rabbits
#1
British Columbia has been battling an outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease. 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/b...ase-in-bc/

It is a terrible disease and many rabbits have died or would have died horribly if they had not be euthanized. The animal shelters seem to be the hardest hit by the virus.

There is good news however. There is a vaccine and it is available in BC now.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-co...-1.4622467


This is a scary thing. Who knows what the consequences would be if the wild rabbits became infected and died. How would that  effect the food chain.

For people with pet rabbits it must be terrifying. Once they get sick there is nothing you can do. The only hope is vaccination. 
It is fortunate the vaccine has arrived. I hope they can bring this under control.
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Catherine

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#2
It's very sad for the shelter and the rabbits there. Plus it means destroying so much and then I suppose, re-building.

Knowing how virulent this virus is, and that it can be spread by other animals, including humans, I am rather shocked at New Zealand's approach! Not only is a mass rabbit cull deliberately releasing this virus inadvisable as we can't know how it will affect the food chain, or even perhaps evantually humans -but it is an act of intense cruelty.
It is all very well for the New Zealand authorities saying "make sure all your pet rabbits are vaccinated". But they cannot know how this virus might mutate, or affect other creatures!

Anyway I am glad to hear there is now a vaccine in B.C.
And it was very kind of the shelter to donate those vaccines to the financially less-fortunate. I hope all will work out well for them there.
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#3
Quote:Knowing how virulent this virus is, and that it can be spread by other animals, including humans, I am rather shocked at New Zealand's approach! Not only is a mass rabbit cull deliberately releasing this virus inadvisable as we can't know how it will affect the food chain, or even perhaps evantually humans -but it is an act of intense cruelty.

It is all very well for the New Zealand authorities saying "make sure all your pet rabbits are vaccinated". But they cannot know how this virus might mutate, or affect other creatures!

I was busy thinking about the BC rabbits. I hadn't really thought about what New Zealand was planning to do. This is a very dangerous move. Once released there is no predicting what the virus will do.  It would disrupt the food chain. That is serious enough. Viruses mutate and there is no way to know what direction that will take.

In the 1960s a science fiction writer has the world as we know it get destroyed by the release of a virus to control the rabbits.
He was killed in a car accident, but I wonder what he would think if he saw someone considering actually releasing a virus.

At least the rabbits in BC will be safe.
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Catherine

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