Fears over wild rabbit virus risk

I have read about a disease wiping out wild rabbits in the countryside where I live. Do you have any more information? Does it pose a risk to my pair of three-year-old indoor rabbits?

- DR DAVID GRANT

There has been a dramatic decrease in wild rabbit numbers in the UK between 1995 and 2018, 53%, down, on average. But in other areas, such as the East Midlands, it was 88% and in Scotland 83%.

This epidemic shows no signs of slowing down. The cause is rabbit haemorrhagic disease, which has a very high mortality rate.

Since its initial diagnosis in China in 1984 the virus has spread worldwide, arriving in the UK in 1992.

The virus is known as RHDV1, and in 2010 a new highly contagious strain, RHDV2, emerged. This strain is an important cause of the massive decline.

RHDV2 affects very young rabbits, many dying with no apparent symptoms, and within a few days. When signs are observed, affected rabbits are severely unwell, have difficulty breathing and there is often bleeding from the nose, mouth or rear.