Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) has caused mass die-offs of wild rabbit populations across Europe and beyond, with significant welfare and ecological consequences.
RHD causes a rapid but distressing death from internal hemorrhage and organ failure. The scale of mass mortality events during outbreaks means millions of individual animals dying within days in affected regions. While individual deaths from RHD may be relatively rapid, the ecological collapse following mass die-offs harms surviving predator species who lose their primary prey base. The welfare implications ripple through ecosystems dependent on rabbit prey availability.