Myxomatosis continues to cause significant welfare suffering in wild rabbit populations, with periodic epidemics killing millions of animals and raising questions about the ethics of the virus's original deliberate introduction.
Myxomatosis causes prolonged and severe welfare suffering in individual rabbits, with the course of the disease lasting 10-14 days during which animals are blind, unable to feed properly, and suffering from respiratory distress. The scale of infection during epidemic periods means millions of animals simultaneously experiencing this welfare harm. The deliberate introduction of a suffering-causing disease to manage a pest species remains one of the most ethically concerning welfare decisions in wildlife management history. The ongoing welfare cost is now an unavoidable part of rabbit population dynamics in the UK.