Myxomatosis in Wild Rabbits: Disease Welfare and Management

Myxomatosis, introduced to control wild rabbit populations in Europe and Australia, causes severe suffering in affected rabbits with welfare debate about biological control versus the welfare cost to individual animals.

Key Facts

Myxomatosis was deliberately introduced to Australia (1950) and France (1952) to control wild European rabbit populations
The disease causes fever, swelling of the eyes and genitals, secondary infections, and death in 8-15 days in naive populations
Initial mortality in naive populations exceeded 99%; surviving populations show partial immunity from natural selection
UK wild rabbits have been repeatedly devastated by myxomatosis outbreaks; pet rabbits can be vaccinated but wild animals cannot
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is a separate, faster-killing calicivirus that has also decimated wild rabbit populations
Spain, where Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle depend critically on rabbits as prey, has suffered severe conservation impacts
The deliberate introduction of myxomatosis is considered by many animal welfare scientists to be among the largest-scale intentional animal welfare harms ever enacted

Welfare Considerations

Myxomatosis welfare analysis involves extraordinary scale and duration of suffering. The deliberate introduction exposed hundreds of millions of wild rabbits to a disease causing 8-15 days of progressive suffering - swelling, blindness, inability to feed, secondary infections - before death. The welfare cost of this intentional biological control measured in total suffering-days is almost incomprehensibly large. Contemporary wildlife management that considers welfare alongside population goals recognizes biological control as a welfare-significant intervention requiring ethical scrutiny. For individual wild rabbits encountering myxomatosis today, euthanasia by wildlife carers is a welfare-positive intervention for severely affected animals with no prospect of recovery.

What You Can Do

Vaccinate pet rabbits against myxomatosis and RHD with available combination vaccines
If you find a severely myxomatosis-affected wild rabbit, contact a wildlife carer for assessment - euthanasia may be most humane
Support wildlife disease monitoring programs that track myxomatosis and RHD prevalence in wild rabbit populations
Engage with wildlife management debates about biological control methods and their welfare implications
Support conservation of Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle which are secondary victims of rabbit population collapse