The provincial government says it won含羞草研究社檛 be investigating the source of a deadly virus that has led to numerous rabbit deaths in the Nanaimo area.
After a number of dead rabbits were reported in the Rotary Bowl stadium area in late-February, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development issued a statement warning of the 含羞草研究社渆xtremely infectious and lethal含羞草研究社� rabbit hemorrhagic virus. Six rabbits from Nanaimo were tested and all were positive, it said.
Helen Schwantje, a wildlife veterinarian with the ministry, told the News Bulletin the virus is native to domestic rabbits of European origin and pet rabbits were at risk.
In an e-mailed statement, the ministry said 含羞草研究社渁n investigation is not feasible and results would very likely be inconclusive, as previously experienced through investigations where outbreaks have occurred in other parts of the country.含羞草研究社�
The ministry said tests were conducted on 17 rabbits from a number of areas, including Nanaimo and Comox, with 12 being feral (wild, but descended from domestic rabbits) and five domestic (pets). Eleven of the feral rabbits tested positive, while all five domestic rabbits were negative.
Feral rabbits submitted from regions where the disease has been confirmed are no longer being tested, said the ministry. A vaccine will be available for rabbit owners in the coming weeks, it said.
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Carley Colclough, Nanaimo Animal Control Services含羞草研究社� pound coordinator, estimated that animal control services has recovered between 450 to 500 dead rabbits since late February, but it has been slowing down.
含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檙e getting a lot of calls about one or two rabbits at a time instead of 15 to 20 at a time, and I think that含羞草研究社檚 because it含羞草研究社檚 probably moved through the larger populations and now we含羞草研究社檙e finding just the odd one in someone含羞草研究社檚 yard or on the sidewalk or something like that, but we含羞草研究社檙e not getting nearly as many calls from Beban Park or Westwood Road where there had been previously big populations,含羞草研究社� said Colclough.
Colclough said the highest concentration of dead rabbits was in the Beban Park area with approximately 20 to 30 a day during the second week of March. She also expects that many infected rabbits crawled into their burrows and died as well, although there is no way to know for certain.
Leon Davis, branch manager for Nanaimo含羞草研究社檚 B.C. SPCA, said a moratorium on accepting bunnies remains in place.
含羞草研究社淚 think animal control is still picking up rabbits daily and we含羞草研究社檙e still finding them sporadically and until we get more information from the ministry to how long it can persist in the environment, we含羞草研究社檙e not transferring out any animals at all so our vehicles don含羞草研究社檛 spread anything 含羞草研究社� we含羞草研究社檙e just trying to do our best to limit any impact we have,含羞草研究社� said Davis.
Anyone who sees dead rabbits is asked to contact animal control services at 250-616-0233.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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