Wild rabbit populations face catastrophic mortality from myxomatosis and RHDV (Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus), diseases that cause enormous welfare harm while also affecting predator species that depend on rabbits.
Wild rabbit disease represents welfare harm at a scale that dwarfs most wildlife welfare concerns but receives little systematic attention. The prolonged suffering of myxomatosis — with swelling, blindness, and slow respiratory failure over 10-14 days — affects millions of individual rabbits annually even in populations that have developed partial resistance. RHDV2 causes more rapid death but has spread to new populations causing fresh welfare emergencies. Beyond individual animal suffering, these diseases create ecosystem-level harm by removing a prey species that dozens of predator species depend on. Monitoring, vaccination of domestic rabbits to prevent wild spread, and habitat management that maintains resilient rabbit populations are all relevant welfare interventions.