Deadly RHD rabbit virus shuts UK competition shows

A new strain of a deadly rabbit virus has forced the closure of county show competitions across England.

 

Events in Devon, Cornwall and Cheshire have all banned bunnies following outbreaks of the mutation of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, known as RHD-2.

 

There is currently no licensed vaccine in the UK for the new strain.

 

“The fear factor is we don’t know how it’s spreading,” said Neill Gardner, chairman of the British Rabbit Council (BRC).

‘Just drop dead’

Since March, the BRC has received reports of RHD-2 across Cheshire, Devon, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Leeds and Moray.

 

With the former strain “there was usually a visible sign, like bloody discharge from the nostrils”, Mr Gardner said.

 

“Now they just drop dead”.

 

A vaccine for the new strain is expected to be licensed in the UK in the next month, Mr Gardener added.

Courtesy of BBC News

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