The wild rabbit has declined by over 60% in Britain since the 1980s, with welfare implications for individual animals suffering from Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease and myxomatosis.
Wild rabbits face welfare threats from two introduced viral diseases that cause very different patterns of suffering. Myxomatosis causes a prolonged illness lasting one to two weeks with swollen eyes, skin lesions, and progressive debilitation before death, causing considerable suffering to individual rabbits. RHD2 causes rapid death, often within 48 hours of infection, with less obvious suffering per individual but mass mortality at population scale. Both diseases represent ongoing welfare crises for wild rabbit populations. Conservation of rabbits through habitat management also protects the ecosystem services they provide to other species.