gareth rasberry<\/a>\/cc by-sa 3.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\u201cthe new england cottontail\u2019s range is being overtaken by the eastern cottontail,\u201d rittenhouse said. \u201cthey are very indistinguishable from each other, often we have to look at genetic information to tell the two apart or identify the species of a specific rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in 2015 the new england cottontail was not considered an endangered species despite relatively low population numbers, rittenhouse said. he says that now rhdv2\u2019s rapid spread poses a greater threat to the new england cottontail species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cso there is huge concern over this disease,\u201d rittenhouse said. \u201cwe know it can pretty much decimate a population, quite literally reduce it to one-tenth of its original size, as it did in the southwestern united states and a few other places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
low population numbers for the new england cottontail rabbit mean that if the often-fatal rhdv2 disease gets into connecticut\u2019s wild rabbit population, it could lead to extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cif rabbit hemorrhagic disease wipes out a large proportion of the new england cottontail population, and there are not enough of them left to repopulate, it could be the end of the species in the wild,\u201d rittenhouse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the threat of extinction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n this threat of extinction also has negative implications for other populations in the connecticut ecosystem, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201crabbits are food for other species in the food chain,\u201d rittenhouse said. \u201cif we snap a finger and all the rabbits are gone, their predators will have to switch prey, and therefore put pressure on other populations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
these extinctions of one population in a food chain are often due to the effects of climate change. and extinctions don\u2019t just impact one species \u2013 they disrupt the entire food chain and surrounding ecosystem, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
still, extinction threatens many animal and plant species each year. mark urban, a biologist and associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at uconn, highlighted the importance of reducing extinction rates and maintaining biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201ci think it\u2019s a mistake that we just monitor species and populations to extinction,\u201d urban said. \u201cwe need to do something about it, rather than just watching them decline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but experts say that there are limited outcomes for rhdv2 and connecticut\u2019s rabbit populations at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
miranda davis, ph.d., a wildlife ecologist and assistant professor in residence in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at uconn, said the spread of rhdv2 to the wild rabbit population could be devastating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cwhen we get a novel disease or disease variant introduced to a system, oftentimes the host species have very little resistance,\u201d davis said. \u201cthis is particularly true if the host species is a dense population, like rabbits, and the disease can easily spread like wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
according to davis, the hope regarding most threatening diseases is that they become endemic, like the flu in the human population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cthere isn\u2019t necessarily a way to entirely get rid of it, but it also doesn\u2019t kill individuals at a high enough rate to wipe itself out,\u201d davis said. \u201cthe population just has to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a proactive solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n experts say a large part of preventing extinctions via novel diseases relates to disease identification. this work is done in labs like the cvmdl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
risatti explained that the cvmdl is a member of the united states department of agriculture\u2019s national animal health laboratory network. one of the lab\u2019s main goals is to respond to disease events such as this one quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
while rhdv2 has not been identified in connecticut\u2019s wild rabbit populations yet \u2013 the only positively identified case in the state was in domestic rabbits \u2013 the threat of this happening remains. and rhdv2 is likely too fatal to hold out hope for reaching an endemic level, rittenhouse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cthe best solution we know of right now is the vaccine,\u201d said rittenhouse, referring to the rhdv2 vaccine available from europe. state agencies are looking at getting this vaccine to where it is needed in connecticut, before the disease reaches the state\u2019s wild rabbit populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cit\u2019s not feasible to catch and administer a vaccine to all the wild rabbits in connecticut, but we can give it to our contained or domestic rabbit populations as a start,\u201d rittenhouse said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
scientists express concerns that an often fatal disease infecting connecticut’s domestic rabbit population may spread to the species’ wild counterparts and have disastrous consequences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5034],"tags":[506,4824,4974,4973,4635],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-27172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storyfest-2023","tag-biodiversity","tag-connecticut","tag-pathogen","tag-rabbits","tag-uconn"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
foreign rabbit disease threatens connecticut rabbit populations - planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n