OkcPets Magazine September 2020

September/October 2020 • OKC Pets 33 I ’ve had the honor of writing for OKC Pets for a couple of years now; the drive to share information, as well as a wildlife rehabber’s perspective, has inspired me for the subjects I’ve offered. For the most part, the darkest situations I’ve addressed have been coupled with warnings, insights, ideas for prevention and hope—the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” I want readers to have ways of dealing with animals that avoid tragic consequences; I want others to be more tolerant or appreciative of all animals in our lives. But, with this assignment, I’ve really struggled. Even with my Pollyanna personality, I fear the light here is very faint, and I’m not sure there’s an end to the tunnel. On top of COVID-19 concerns and a plethora of cultural/political/historical crises, the lack of environmental health looms more than ever. Global indicators of potential disasters rise from the animal world in the forms of infestations, invasions and infections. Bear in mind, nearly all of these disasters are not due to animals interacting in their native environments. They are usually due to our interference: human ignorance coupled with some form of economic need or greed. Invasive species are thriving everywhere in America: pythons populate the Everglades, killer hornets are moving through Washington state, feral hogs and cats abound—and all of these have steadily destroyed the health of native animals. It sucks. And now, we have another victim. The rabbits of North America, cottontails, hares, pikas, swamp rabbits and more, are dying. A pandemic is spreading through human actions with diseased bunnies, and its dire promise will stress the environment even more. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus comes in three forms (I’m addressing RHDV2 here) and is highly contagious to lagomorphs (but not humans, so don’t panic). Originating through European and Chinese trade in the mid-1980s, the disease proved handy as Australia used it to control destructive rabbit populations in the 1990s. RHDV2 began to spread through domestic and wild European rabbits from that point and appeared in Canada’s domestic stock in 2018. It was assumed to be a fairly exotic disease at that point; breeders and pet owners figured wild rabbits were immune. Wrong. Perhaps some of you readers don’t know this, but there are plenty of heartless pet owners, who dump more than dogs and cats, as well as breeders and businesses with less than stellar practices. Beginning in March 2020, an unusual number of carcasses appeared in the U.S.; testing revealed this “Bunny Ebola” infecting cottontails, hares and more. Epidemiologists are tracking the disease, and the charts indicate it’s picking up steam in wild populations. One reason? This virus is incredibly hardy. Once an animal is infected, it can go one to nine days with no symptoms (depending on the exact strain and levels). Once symptoms start, RHDV can explode through the system and, within hours, end the bunny’s life with a terminal scream as it collapses into death. That’s the easy way. Many will experience a slow decline as organs shut down. Congestion in the eyes, nose and lungs drowns them; convulsions, paddling and mania ensue. Finally, a vital system quits, and the animal dies, bleeding from the nose and/or rectum. The virus spreads in a variety of ways. Of course, nose-to-nose is immediate in passing this infection as is oral or conjunctival/ mucous membrane transmission. Yet one Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus ROUGH ROAD FOR RABBITS WRITTEN BY: Kim Doner