Rabbit disease

[rabbit tourmentor 29]

What has wiped out all the rabbits they are nearly a hing of the past here in hampshire

[Mark_mjs93 164]

RHD is one of them, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease I think it's called? Basically just causes catastrophic bleeding. Nasty thing it is, absolutely lethal and infectious as can be. Has a far worse impact than Mixy from what I can gather but i'm definitely not an expert by any stretch. 

[garbs 90]

Our councils have been using that horrible shit for ages but the strange thing is where it’s been implemented the rabbits have bounced back ten fold.maybe there getting immune to it???

[micky 3,325]

5 hours ago, Mark_mjs93 said:

RHD is one of them, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease I think it's called? Basically just causes catastrophic bleeding. Nasty thing it is, absolutely lethal and infectious as can be. Has a far worse impact than Mixy from what I can gather but i'm definitely not an expert by any stretch. 

FAR WORSE THAN MIXI  , ?   NOT A CHANCE …………..THE ORIGINAL STRAIN OF MIXI WAS  99% LETHAL IN MANY AREA'S 100%. AT ITS HEIGHTTHERE WAS AN AREA IN  NOTTINGHAMSHIRE WHERE RABBITS SEEMED RESISTANT TO THE DISEASE  AND TEAMS OF TRAPPERS WHERE BROUGHT IN FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO DEAL WITH THEM , FIRST THEY WERE LIVE TRAPPED AND SENT TO PORTLAND DOWN  THEN THE LAND WAS  BLANKET TRAPPED TO KILL AS MANY AS POSSIBLE  THEN MINISTERY MEN GASSED EVERY HOLE AND RE-GASSED ANY HOLE THAT OPENED FOR 18 MONTH'S THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE TRAPPING PROGRAMME  WAS  ROY GREEN FROM LEICESTERSHIRE WHO HAD WORKED FOR THE MINISTRY OF [AG] DURING THE WAR . IN THE 60S I WENT TO AN ESTATE IN THAT AREA AND THERE WAS STILL A LOT OF RABBITS WHEN THERE WAS NONE IN MOST OTHER PLACES  AS A COUPLE ON HERE COULD TELL YOU .

[garbs 90]

Just my observations RHD has been in Aus for a while and 1 off the properties I hunt over 100 acres the owners gave permission to cull as many rabbits as possible but for some reason the bunnies are still everywhere.no mixy no defects no deaths nice healthy bunnies.i know different countries but that’s just my say.hope it’s not the case for you guys

[Mark_mjs93 164]

1 hour ago, garbs said:

Just my observations RHD has been in Aus for a while and 1 off the properties I hunt over 100 acres the owners gave permission to cull as many rabbits as possible but for some reason the bunnies are still everywhere.no mixy no defects no deaths nice healthy bunnies.i know different countries but that’s just my say.hope it’s not the case for you guys

 

8 hours ago, garbs said:

Our councils have been using that horrible shit for ages but the strange thing is where it’s been implemented the rabbits have bounced back ten fold.maybe there getting immune to it???

RHD or VHD in its first strain had an immense impact on rabbit population. But it's impact was MASSIVE with rabbits dying a few hours after onset of the disease. It had a massive mortality rate in its first strain and would kill them off quick! Myxy has a longer term effect and as Micky said it has been the bane of many over the years but in terms of short term effects RHD or VHD was highly affective in a short space of time. The newer strain, RHDv2 has a lower mortality rate and isn't as catastrophic as its predecessor. A quick Google can tell you plenty.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Mark_mjs93

[micky 3,325]

1 hour ago, Mark_mjs93 said:

 

RHD or VHD in its first strain had an immense impact on rabbit population. But it's impact was MASSIVE with rabbits dying a few hours after onset of the disease. It had a massive mortality rate in its first strain and would kill them off quick! Myxy has a longer term effect and as Micky said it has been the bane of many over the years but in terms of short term effects RHD or VHD was highly affective in a short space of time. The newer strain, RHDv2 has a lower mortality rate and isn't as catastrophic as its predecessor. A quick Google can tell you plenty.

THE DEADLIST THING ABOUT THE MIXOMA VIRUS IS THAT IT DOES NOT KII QUICKLY IT TAKES ABOUT 16 DAYS TO KILL GIVING THE RABBIT PLENTY OF TIME TO MEET LOTS OF NEW FRIENDS .

[Bobtheferret 1,248]

The promising thing about the new RVHD disease is that in New Zealand and Australia (as mentioned above) they seem to have formed a very quick immunity to it so baring in mind it’s actually been here since 2014 hopefully give another 5-10 years and it will be see a pick up...it may be slim pickings for some for a few years yet though. 

[Mark_mjs93 164]

3 hours ago, micky said:

THE DEADLIST THING ABOUT THE MIXOMA VIRUS IS THAT IT DOES NOT KII QUICKLY IT TAKES ABOUT 16 DAYS TO KILL GIVING THE RABBIT PLENTY OF TIME TO MEET LOTS OF NEW FRIENDS .

I appreciate myxy is a horrible disease, what I'm saying about RHD is not so much that is worse than myxy, maybe I presented my point in a weird light. I'm not disputing how deadly myxy is, I'm just saying that with new diseases like RHD appearing in our rabbits, the catastrophic scenes that people like yourself witnessed with myxy, back in the day, are now showing up again and the mixture of old and new diseases with different transmission rates, infection rates and mortality rates is making for another hard hit to the populations. With that said Im no expert and other folks on here will give their opinions on the matter I'm Sure. 

[micky 3,325]

,I have a lot  of land in Leicestershire where for many years I have caught more rabbits than I could dispose of, over three years this land has declined to having almost nothing on  when I visited  the area a week ago it had recovered to what it had once been, RHD had been the problem and now they were over it and are back ,this was never the case with MIXI some places had a few but most are barren to this day . Rabbits have always had  disease's that have wiped them out but in the past they it was easy to pull them in from the local area, the old timers often brought a couple of Doe' back and release them  to  a   new area's to stir the mix as in breeding  would soon weaken the strain  and leave them open to infection .

Edited February 22, 2019 by micky

[rabbit tourmentor 29]

How did this rhd start then is it man made  ?  A good day ferreting here u might get 6 rabbits 10 year ago that was a crap day even to go for a mooch with the dog now if you see a rabbit it’s a surprise how is the disease spread is it airborne ?

[The one 8,476]

5 minutes ago, rabbit tourmentor said:

How did this rhd start then is it man made  ?  A good day ferreting here u might get 6 rabbits 10 year ago that was a crap day even to go for a mooch with the dog now if you see a rabbit it’s a surprise how is the disease spread is it airborne ?

Its supposed to be a hot disease  meaning you can carry it on your boots , equipment etc 

[Bobtheferret 1,248]

1 hour ago, rabbit tourmentor said:

How did this rhd start then is it man made  ?  A good day ferreting here u might get 6 rabbits 10 year ago that was a crap day even to go for a mooch with the dog now if you see a rabbit it’s a surprise how is the disease spread is it airborne ?

There’s some excellent articles on it if you google it and studies done in other countries and this one etc. RVHD disease is a natural disease from South Korea (mixi was native to Peru I believe) and has been introduced by man and with RVHD2 it has been adapted and then released, rabbits in those countries had a natural immunity to it and mortality is quite low there but in Europe and Australia etc with no natural immunity it was devastating initially until the immunity built up. Like Micky has said the only positive with this is the mortality rate is not as high as mixi was, there were over a 100million rabbits apparently before mixi and even at there highest since 1953 when mixi struck rabbits numbers only got to late 50’s millions at their highest after mixi but now have dropped off again with RVHD/RVHD2 taking hold. Let’s hope for all us hunters and the British countryside as a whole that they recover well and quickly.   

Edited February 22, 2019 by Bobtheferret

[david jones 97]

Hampshire use to be fantastic for rabbiting were I lived and worked my ferrets and dogs. it really was a dream for rabbiting walked out of my front door straight into woods and fields at six years old I was ferreting, got taught how to ferret off a old boy who is long gone now.  fantastic for a young lad growing up,. yeah there was always the occasional out break of mixie in the summer. But there was always your strong holds of rabbits it really didn't matter how hard you hit the rabbits they would be back the next week ready to be ferreted again. I have still got the same strain of ferrets  I have had as a young lad which are now more or less redundant and dogs the same way. I am absolutely gutted because of this disease its destroyed my hobby and if I could pay money for a vacination or something I would. sorry for the long rant. 

[Daniel cain 45,270]

there's still good numbers on my permission down that way......never seen so many hares when out on the lamp this season,more than I've ever seen before.