B.C.’s chief veterinary officer asking public to report dead rabbits after deadly disease returns to Vancouver Island

B.C.'s chief veterinary officer asking public to report dead rabbits after deadly disease returns to Vancouver Island
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B.C.'s chief veterinary officer is asking the public to report dead rabbits to conservation officers. File photo.

B.C.’s chief veterinary officer is asking the public to report dead rabbits to conservation officers. File photo.

British Columbia’s chief veterinary officer is urging anyone who sees a dead rabbit or notices rabbit colony populations declining to report them to conservation officers so officials can monitor the potential spread of a deadly virus.

Jane Pritchard says four rabbits in the Parksville area have tested positive for calicivirus, which is highly contagious and causes rabbit hemorrhagic disease.

The virus does not affect humans or other animals but can kill rabbits in 36 hours and was first identified in B-C last year.

Pritchard is encouraging anyone with pet bunnies or domesticated rabbits to get them immunized and says thousands of doses of a vaccine were brought into B.C. last year.

The Canadian PressThe Canadian Press

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