Myxomatosis causes prolonged painful death in wild rabbits. Understanding the disease and available interventions informs welfare-conscious responses to affected animals.
Myxomatosis causes one of the most prolonged welfare harms regularly observed in wild animal populations. Affected rabbits suffer from blindness, inability to eat, and swelling over 10-14 days before death. Humane killing of clearly affected wild rabbits is the most welfare-positive response for individuals when they can be caught. Population-level interventions are not currently feasible.