Animals|The mass deaths of city rabbits is explained by a virus that spreads easily, which can also infect pet rabbits.
In the capital region might come across a bunch of dead rabbits now.
Among the city rabbits, there is a nasty and easily spreading hemorrhagic fever disease, specialist researcher Minna Nylund About the Food Agency.
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, or rhd, is spread by a virus and destroys the rabbit’s liver. The disease was first detected in Finland in the spring of 2016, when it was the fate of hundreds of rabbits in Helsinki.
Since then, the disease has broken out as an epidemic again a few times.
“Rabbit epidemics travel in waves. There are more rabbits in late summer and autumn, so there are also more diseases then,” says Nylund.
Food Agency according to Nylund, has received several reports of dead rabbits around the capital region. The most notifications have come from Helsinki.
Rhd virus does not infect humans, dogs or cats.
“Pet rabbits, on the other hand, are at risk of infection,” says Nylund.
The disease can be transmitted to a pet rabbit without direct contact with a sick wild rabbit. The virus survives well and can be spread indirectly through, for example, the secretions of rabbits or even insects.
In the event of an epidemic, according to the instructions of the Food Agency, it is necessary to avoid taking domestic rabbits outside and feeding them with food collected from nature.
The Food Agency also recommends vaccinating pet rabbits against the disease.
If run into dead rabbits, you can make them notification For the Food Agency.
According to Nylund, carcasses usually disappear in nature by themselves, so there is no need to worry about them.
“However, if there are a lot of carcasses, it can be good to collect them away. You can bury them or put them in a plastic bag with mixed waste,” he says.
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