The virus that has killed 50% of rabbits in Australia can be lethal for Spanish fauna

The rabbit is in danger. The Australian authorities have inoculated a virus (as they have already done with catastrophic results for countries like Spain and Portugal with myxomatosis) to try to end the large population of European rabbits that populate the vast lands of Australia. In that country, these mammals cause damage to agriculture that is estimated at around 185 million euros per year.

However, the problem is not so much what happens on the island (where the European rabbit is classified as an invasive species and pest) but what may happen with the population of this rabbit in the rest of the world. In the case of Spain, this is the main food for protected animals such as the Iberian lynx or the imperial eagle.

This virus is a new strain of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). According to the Center for Food Security and Health it is extremely contagious and often deadly to rabbits. In Australia it has been introduced in March and has already managed to reduce the rabbit population by almost 50% in just over two months.

, a biologist and technician at centers for the recovery and reproduction of wild fauna, assures that “this new strain can reach Spain. Here I would speak of globalization. Rabbits can reach us both accidentally and intentionally from Australia. If this happens it is the end”. Some experts have assured that this virus can even reach Spain on the sole of a boot.

The Australian authorities are very careful when it comes to examining tourists who arrive on the island in order to avoid the arrival of diseases or invasive species, however, they do not put as much effort into checking people who leave the country for other countries. Destinations.

Quentin Hart, coordinator of the project, has revealed to the Chinese news agency Xinhua that “this action is part of a national program that has been launched in 600 places, so that hundreds of farmers and administrations are involved in the inoculation of the virus”.

Experience with myxomatoxis

This is not the first time that an operation of this type has been carried out in Australia, and if the result ends up being fatal, it would not be anything new either: “Myxomatosis was discovered in America, and in the 50s the Australians already introduced it to end with the rabbits that overpopulated the island, a product of colonial introductions. A decade later the virus was introduced into France to decimate populations and a few years later it had already reached Spain, drastically reducing rabbit populations.”

Rabbit affected by myxomatosis. // Source: Getty

Myxomatosis has caused a decrease in the population of this mammal of close to 70% in Spain and 25% in Portugal, according to several studies presented by the Institute for Research in Hunting Resources. In communities such as Andalusia and Extremadura (both refuges for the Iberian lynx and the imperial eagle) it is difficult to find rabbits where they used to be abundant. “Spain was called Hispania by the Romans, which means land of rabbits and from that moment the decline of our populations began, affecting the entire trophic pyramid,” Herrero points out.

The Iberian lynx and the imperial eagle

Now the danger is extreme, if this virus ends up reaching Spain, the rabbit will have a very difficult survival: “A mutated virus like this gives very little time for the animals to adapt and has high mortality rates, all of this added to our strains of myxomatosis and EHV, well imagine, in Spain the Life Iberlince project that works for the conservation of this feline, gives millions of euros annually to correct the causes that have led this ‘cat’ to be in danger of extinction, one of The main measures are to favor the population of rabbits, the main prey of the lynx”, comments David Herrero.

An Iberian lynx with a rabbit in its mouth. // Source: Getty

This biologist affirms that the rabbit is one of the pillars of the ecosystem in Spain. Although much of its fame comes from the interest it causes in hunters or for being the main food of the lynx and some birds of prey, “species that we all like very much and that receive a lot of money for their protection, but in truth it is the rabbit the one that protects the entire ecosystem. The rabbit is the base of all this, without a prey like the rabbit… goodbye”.

To avoid this type of situation that endangers the fauna of some countries because a species is causing havoc in other areas, it would be important for international cooperation to reach a much higher level than it currently is in these matters.

Herrero concludes by stating that there should be international coordination. And use other types of measures. The clearest, in addition to the casting or direct death of specimens, is biological control, that is, introducing or promoting a native Australian species that preys on rabbits and so there is more predation. The problem is that the Australians have a history of catastrophes for biological control… They have already introduced the marine toad (Rhinella marina), of American origin, to control insect pests and now it is an uncontrolled pest.”