I'm going to listen quietly at the next burrow I find and see if they have French or Italian accents!
On a more serious note, the simple fact is that rabbits are here and are now an established part of the ecology of the British Isles. Even if it were possible to eradicate them, doing so would have an impact on various predators such as foxes, stoats, weasels, etc. Which brings us back to your original question - what did those predators live on before rabbits were introduced? Or was it simply the case that, in the absence of rabbits, there were lower populations of those predators?
And going right back to Stomperone's original post, I agree it's a terrible sight to see and highlights the dangers inherent in trying to "control" wildlife. As I understand it the rabbit population of the UK is at least as large now as it was before myxomatosis was introduced. So the only real impact is we now have to witness this suffering every few years.
A baby rabbit with eyes full of pus
Is the work of scientific us.
My diagnosis
Myxomatosis.
Spike Milligan
Dave P.