The Irish Mail on Sunday

Hares in peril as rabbit myxomatosi­s spreads

- By Simon Murphy

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.’

 ??  ?? THREAT: Hundreds of hares in the UK have died
THREAT: Hundreds of hares in the UK have died

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