Wild rabbits face significant welfare challenges from myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease, as well as predation and pest control by humans. Navigating these welfare considerations requires understanding rabbit biology and the range of available management approaches.
Wild rabbit welfare involves genuine complexity: rabbits are both a species in significant population decline and a legally managed agricultural pest that causes documented economic harm. Myxomatosis causes one of the most prolonged and distressing deaths of any wildlife disease — affected rabbits suffer over 10-14 days of progressive blindness, respiratory distress, and tissue swelling before death. The disease persists in the environment because it infects fleas that can survive in rabbit warrens for years. RVHD2 causes more rapid death but affects previously resistant populations without warning. The welfare-consistent approach to encountering visibly myxomatotic rabbits is to report them for euthanasia rather than leaving them to suffer the full disease course. For pest control, shooting by skilled operators is generally the most humane method, with snaring causing significantly more welfare concern.