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By Chris Brown

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease

Fatal disease can affect domestic and wild rabbits

May 7, 2021 | 2:34 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A southern Alberta animal group is raising awareness about a highly contagious and fatal disease that killed five rabbits in Taber last month.

Alyssa Koenig, director of Archie’s Angels Rabbit Rescue in Lethbridge, says rabbit hemorrhagic disease can affect domestic and wild rabbits and can be transmitted by almost anything that comes into contact with an infected rabbit.

“It can be transmitted through pretty much anything that comes in contact with an infected rabbit or like if a predator comes in contact with an infected rabbit it can be in the predator’s feces, it can be on its fur things like that,” she says. “We can carry into the house on our shoes on objects that come from outside. It can definitely affect hay and rabbit food things like that out in fields and stuff. It’s very, very transmittable so birds can carry it in their feces. If you touch a rabbit that has it and then touch your rabbit, things like that.”

The belief is the five rabbits in Taber exposed to the virus by something that came from outside as they hadn’t been outside in six months.

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Koenig says as far as they understand now the virus can not jump from animals to humans.

“It doesn’t affect humans or other animals but like I said we can be the cause of transmission along with our pets,” she says. “Or if you have cats and dogs and you let them outside they can bring it in on their paws and fur and stuff like that.”

Koenig suggests leaving the shoes you wear outside outside and getting sterilizers for the bottom of your shoes from a vet clinic. She also says to keep rabbits inside and keep any pets that do go outside separate from the rabbits.

Washing your hands before and after handling your rabbits and sanitizing floors can also help keep rabbits safe.

“If it spreads throughout our wildlife it can potentially be devastating to our eco-system,” she adds. “Plus obviously I run a rescue so I hate thinking about these things but rabbits are part of the food chain we use their meat for our dogs and a lot of people eat themselves. So it can actually be devastating to the food industry just the same.”

Koenig says groups are working to get vaccines shipped from France and to call fish and wildlife if you see a deceased rabbit without an obvious cause of death so it can be analyzed.