Wild Rabbit Myxomatosis and Welfare

Myxomatosis, introduced to control wild rabbit populations in Europe and Australia, causes a prolonged and distressing death in unvaccinated rabbits that raises significant welfare concerns.

Key Facts

Myxomatosis is caused by Myxoma virus, introduced deliberately to European rabbit populations in the 1950s.
Infection causes swollen eyelids, skin tumours, and secondary bacterial infections — death typically follows in 10-14 days.
The disease has caused massive wild rabbit mortality in the UK and Europe since introduction.
No treatment exists for wild rabbits with myxomatosis — humanely euthanizing affected animals reduces suffering.
Domestic rabbits can be vaccinated against myxomatosis — wild rabbits lack this protection.

Welfare Considerations

Myxomatosis causes one of the most prolonged and distressing deaths of any wildlife disease in Europe — affected rabbits become progressively blind, develop large skin tumours, and die slowly over 1-2 weeks from secondary infection and debility. The suffering is severe and essentially unaddressable in wild populations. Euthanizing obviously affected wild rabbits on welfare grounds reduces individual suffering. The ethics of deliberate disease introduction for population control — weighing pest management against large-scale individual suffering — remains a profound but historically settled question.

What You Can Do

Humanely euthanize obviously myxomatosis-affected wild rabbits if you find them and have appropriate means to do so.
Contact your local wildlife rescue if you find an affected rabbit and cannot euthanize it humanely yourself.
Vaccinate domestic pet rabbits against myxomatosis annually as required — do not rely on wild rabbit population immunity.
Support wildlife health monitoring programmes that track myxomatosis and other wildlife disease outbreaks.