One of the recent visitors to Callum Brae mentioned “dejected
looking rabbits”. I photographed one of these dejected looking
rabbits, and can see that he sure is sick. Not homesick for a lost
warren, but this rabbit has myxomatosis. It is very thin, and has been
sick for some days. Note the swollen tissues around the nose, upper lip
and above the eyes. The eyes themselves are discharging pus.
I have only been visiting Callum Brae for a couple of years,
but don’t recall having seen myxo rabbits there before. If they
have not had an outbreak for some time, hopefully their resistance to this
mosquito-borne virus will be low.
This is only the start of summer, and if the waterholes stay
wet there is a good chance of the disease spreading amongst the rabbits in the
coming months.
Margaret Leggoe
