The New Hunters Society of Lanzarote has alerted Seprona and the Environment Service of the Cabildo to a disease that they say is "ending" with wild rabbits on the island and that has also affected domestic rabbits that some families have in their homes for consumption. According to them, it is a virus that was detected in Europe in 2011 and that has now arrived "strangely" in Lanzarote, because according to them this disease "did not exist" until now on the island. This fact, together with its form of contagion, makes them wonder even if it could have been "intentionally inoculated" to "reduce or exterminate" the population of this animal.
"The entire Canary Archipelago and specifically the island of Lanzarote is running out of wild rabbits. Viral hemorrhagic pneumonia (RHD), detected several years ago, is ending the population of leporids in our rural areas. The virus of this disease causes them a multi-organ failure and the rabbits die a few days after becoming infected", begins explaining the society.
Thus, they relate that a few weeks after the start of the dog training season in the training fields destined for this hunting activity, the dogs "are barely sighting rabbits and most of the animals they point to are corpses." "The virulence of this disease has been such this year that it has begun to spread among the populations of tame or domestic rabbits that many Lanzarote residents raise for their own consumption, which although it has not generated health problems since this disease is not transmitted to humans, it has caused economic losses in many families", they add.
A virulent mutation that did not exist on the island
According to them, the rains of late 2015, which are favorable for the reproduction of these animals, made it possible to expect that the rabbit population would increase this year. However, they continue, in the month of March the disease struck this species again, but it did so with unusual virulence. And it is that, according to the Hunters Society, although it is true that viral hemorrhagic pneumonia "has a greater incidence in the spring months and this is within the norm, what is not so normal is that the disease is affecting pregnant rabbits and rabbits, since these are immunized through colostrum during lactation".
"This fact suggests that the virus that is causing thousands of rabbits to die throughout the island's geography is a mutation of the viral hemorrhagic pneumonia virus known as RHDV-N11, which was detected for the first time in 2011 in Europe and that strangely makes an act of presence in such a violent way on the island of Lanzarote", they maintain. They explain, in addition, that this virus is transmitted directly, through the air, and that some of the dead rabbits also have traces of blood through the nostrils that stain their snouts.
"This form of transmission and the fact that this disease did not exist on this island makes one wonder how the virus has been introduced, whether it has been accidentally or, on the contrary, has been intentionally inoculated to reduce and exterminate the population of an animal that some consider as an invader but that has presence in the islands according to several authors since the time of the Phoenicians", considers the New Hunters Society. Thus, they point out that, "in view of the fact that the disease does not diminish but on the contrary has increased its virulence and aggressiveness", they have been "forced" to "report this situation to the SEPRONA agents and the Environment Service of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, so that they take charge of the pertinent investigations".
