myxomatosis

[scotlass]

i live in country side and have come across a wild Rabbit which looks like it has myxomatosis it seems to be coughing making strange noises what should i do thanks

[badger426]

Originally Posted by scotlass

i live in country side and have come across a wild Rabbit which looks like it has myxomatosis it seems to be coughing making strange noises what should i do thanks

Death from myxomatosis is agonising for Rabbits. Are its eyes swollen and bulging?

[therealbobbo]

I also saw one,yesterday,in a garden where I work.It's eyes were badly affected,it ran from me,and kept bumping into things.I couldn't catch it,though,and it wasn't there today,lets hope the Fox got it.Is myxi. a disease that has to be reported?

[FlyAgaric]

Originally Posted by therealbobbo

I also saw one,yesterday,in a garden where I work.It's eyes were badly affected,it ran from me,and kept bumping into things.I couldn't catch it,though,and it wasn't there today,lets hope the Fox got it.Is myxi. a disease that has to be reported?

No the government love it.

[tom00_uk]

best thing to do is have it put down it will only suffer till death other wise

[Queen bee]

When I find them, I snap their necks. Not nice, but it has to be done. It seems to come around when there's a population explosion of them, like this year.

[Blackbrook Eye]

I will probably be despised for this, but here goes anyway. Myxi is the most efficient way of controlling Rabbit numbers there is. It started as a natural thing and was then intensified, by man purposely encouraging the spread among the Rabbit population in the interests of farming the food we all eat. There are simply not enough animal predators to control their numbers, and trapping, shooting and gassing have not proven to be succesful, in truth the gassing of Rabbits can be almost as traumatic as the disease and is indiscriminate, killing any other animals that are sharing the warren at the time, and quite a few do. It is all very well having a few for nature lovers to look at while rambling in the countryside, but another entirely when they get to plague proportions, as they have in countries like Australia and Newzealand. Anyone who could come up with a more efficient and humane solution would become a multi millionaire overnight and more important, would earn my undying gratitude, It is a terrible way for the poor devils to die, but die they must if consumers want affordable foodstuff.

[wildone]

As I see it farmers and land owners have wanted it both ways. 'Don't come on my land and shoot or net my Rabbits, I want my gamekeepers to control and sell them. At the same time lets get rid of large birds of prey in case they might take sheep or game birds off my land'. That attitude led to the over population of Rabbits in Britain at least. Then the farmers needed to stop Rabbits eating crops but still wanted to use Rabbits as a cash crop themselves. By the time they allowed people with ferrets or guns to kill the Rabbits it was too late and they were overrun with the pesky little devils.