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Bugged Bunny

Rabbits carrying the calicivirus disease (RCD) will be fitted with radio transmitters by Massey University scientists as part of a research project into the rabbit-killing disease.

Senior lecturer in veterinary epidemiology, Dr Dirk Pfeiffer, has received a $50,000 grant from the Public Good Science Fund to begin a field study to find out how the RCD virus is spreading amongst rabbit populations. His team from Massey's Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences is setting up a study site near Himitangi (20 minutes west of Palmerston North), where a detailed study will begin on a rabbit population exposed to the RCD virus.

"We just want to see exactly what is happening," says Pfeiffer. "Some areas are claiming a kill rate of nearly 100%; others are saying the virus is killing very few rabbits. The real picture is unclear."

He points to density studies so far which have included walking around and physically counting either dead animals or sightings of rabbits, neither a particularly accurate method, providing only "soft data".

"What we hope to do is compare the populations before exposure to RCD and then after, to see exactly how the virus sweeps through a population."

To do this, radio transmitters will be fitted to captured rabbits in the field, in a similar fashion to possum studies carried out by Pfeiffer in the past.

"It takes a lot of effort to catch individual animals, tag and attach a transmitter and then release them but it is the kind of detailed information this provides that we are after. If the rabbit is killed by RCD then we want to be able to find it, see how far it moved and perform a postmortem."

Bugged Bunny Figure A (17KB)
Dr Dirk Pfeiffer goes hunting rabbits|

Pfeiffer says there are still so many unanswered questions right down to the basics such as what the virus' transmission path is. He hopes this study will be able to determine if it is direct contact with other infected rabbits, where the rabbit sleeps or if in fact other animals including hawks, seagulls or insects are spreading the virus.

"By the end of the year we would hope to have some preliminary data but really it will be a three year trial to make sure we understand such things as how the virus works in different seasons and across time."

Once Massey has established a test procedure, Landcare Research will undertake a similar study in the South Island so results between north and south can be compared.