Hares in peril as rabbit myxomatosis spreads
HARES are in danger of being wiped out by myxomatosis which has spread from rabbits in Britain, a leading expert warned yesterday.
The deadly disease – deliberately introduced in Ireland as bio-control in 1954 after it broke out the previous year in Britain where it resulted in the deaths of 99% of the rabbit population – has now jumped to hares, Dr Diana Bell of the University of East Anglia believes.
The expert issued an appeal with local wildlife trusts to help discover the cause of a spate of mysterious hare deaths in Suffolk and Norfolk. Since then they have been flooded with an ‘overwhelming’ number of responses from across Britain, including as far away as Scotland.
Dr Bell said she was aware of hundreds of cases but felt it was ‘just the tip of the iceberg’.
Myxomatosis is highly infectious and symptoms include runny and swollen eyes. The disease, which is typically transmitted via blood-sucking insects, is nearly always fatal.
Dr Bell said yesterday that in a ‘worst case’ scenario the disease could wipe out the hare population in Britain. ‘From the photographs that have been sent in to me we’ve definitely got a jump of myxomatosis to hares,’ she said.
‘We’re talking about certainly hundreds [of cases] I know about and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.’