By Spencer Sterritt

Mystery deepens as lethal rabbit disease travels from Nanaimo to Comox Valley

Mar 28, 2018 | 7:36 PM

NANAIMO — A rare, lethal and highly contagious disease first found in dead Nanaimo rabbits has spread up-island and across the water.

Dr. Jane Pritchard, the chief veterinary officer for B.C., told NanaimoNewsNOW feral European rabbits in Delta and most recently the Comox Valley tested positive for the calicivirus, which causes the rabbit haemorrhagic disease.

“It’s quite horrific,” Dr. Pritchard said of the disease, which incubates within the rabbits for three to four days before quickly killing them through blot clots, convulsions and fever before they slip into a coma and die.

One confirmed case was found near the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds and the other in the area of Courtenay’s Home Depot.

Dr. Pritchard said the disease has wiped out large swaths of the feral rabbit population in the Comox Valley, Delta and Nanaimo, calling it the “worst case scenario.”

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The rabbit haemorrhagic disease is incredibly contagious and can survive on “shoes, on clothing, on hands, through predators, through birds, through insects, through just about anything this virus will spread,” she said.

Though incredibly lethal to feral European rabbits, native rabbits, all other animals and people are immune.

The mystery about how the disease came to Vancouver Island, which was the first reported case in B.C. and only the third ever in the country, continues to deepen and perplex.

It’s not the same type of the virus used for rabbit population control in Australia and New Zealand. Instead, it’s similar to the version having a significant impact on Spain’s wildlife, where’s it’s killing rabbits and interrupting their food chain.

This strain of the disease is also similar to one seen in Quebec in 2016, which decimated the population for several months before quarantine measures were lifted.

The disease travelling from community to community on Vancouver Island also doesn’t fit any models or predictions.

“We thought it would have widened out from the Nanaimo area, but the reports we have don’t indicate that,” Dr. Pritchard said. “It’s hopped around considerably, which probably relates to the virus travelling with people.”

To hopefully stave off more death, a vaccine is shipping on Tuesday, April 3 from overseas and will be sent to vets who requested it.

A release from the College of Veterinarians of B.C. estimated it would cost vets between roughly $2 and $20 for a dose, depending on if they buy it in bulk or a smaller amount. The price for the vaccine will vary among vets. 

Tests for the disease are currently underway on rabbits sent in from across the province.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit