Rabbitary Wipe Out

[NZ:Julia]

Traumatic thread alert.

I now only have my buck left from my original breeding trio. RHDV2 hit my colony.

I was in a state of total rabbit joy.
I had decided to keep a bonded pair of boys, two lovely girls and of course my original breeding trio. My first rabbit breeding year had been bountiful, I was in the rabbit love zone.

Abundance. I processed 6 and was just at the point of processing 25 more as my annual leave came around.
Before I could harvest RHDV2 hit hard.
At first, I thought I had killed 6 of them by feeding them some crab apples and crab apple branches.
I started to research this and then the whole colony collapsed in every place where I kept them.
(Except for Jeremy who is on his own and who never gets handled - he is happy that way.)

They went from bright and binky to lethargic and off food, then convulsing, screaming haemorrhaging and dead in the space of a day. Total wipe out (except Jeremy ... at the moment) took 8 days.
I have ended up with everyone going into the incinerator.
I am in a terrible state of anxiety for Jeremy.
It seems that I could kill him just by feeding him just by wearing contaminated clothes.
This virus stays on everything despite heat and cold.
Bleach and lots of it is the only option for the cleanup.
This is a minefield.

Do I clean up, wait and try again? Could I get through another colony collapse?
It has been very traumatic. I invested heavily in this project with a view to self-sufficiency in meat.
I don't want to be vaccinating and then eating vaccinated animals.
I can't get the vaccine independent of vets. This is a cost I didn't anticipate.
Do I routeenly vaccinate a breeding trio and start again with my fingers crossed.

I am so angry about RHDV2 - I think it is a bio-weapon. Even worse a WMD for the rabbit population.
They don't die quick and easy - they go in horrible pain. I dispatched where I could. Honestly, this has been awful.
And, there is nowhere to report this in the UK and there seems to be no tracking info.
Not sure what to do now. I am sad, angry and traumatised.

Any advice? Have you had any similar experiences? What did you decide to do?

 

[Alaska Satin]

Traumatic thread alert.

I now only have my buck left from my original breeding trio. RHDV2 hit my colony.

I was in a state of total rabbit joy.
I had decided to keep a bonded pair of boys, two lovely girls and of course my original breeding trio. My first rabbit breeding year had been bountiful, I was in the rabbit love zone.

Abundance. I processed 6 and was just at the point of processing 25 more as my annual leave came around.
Before I could harvest RHDV2 hit hard.
At first, I thought I had killed 6 of them by feeding them some crab apples and crab apple branches.
I started to research this and then the whole colony collapsed in every place where I kept them.
(Except for Jeremy who is on his own and who never gets handled - he is happy that way.)

They went from bright and binky to lethargic and off food, then convulsing, screaming haemorrhaging and dead in the space of a day. Total wipe out (except Jeremy ... at the moment) took 8 days.
I have ended up with everyone going into the incinerator.
I am in a terrible state of anxiety for Jeremy.
It seems that I could kill him just by feeding him just by wearing contaminated clothes.
This virus stays on everything despite heat and cold.
Bleach and lots of it is the only option for the cleanup.
This is a minefield.

Do I clean up, wait and try again? Could I get through another colony collapse?
It has been very traumatic. I invested heavily in this project with a view to self-sufficiency in meat.
I don't want to be vaccinating and then eating vaccinated animals.
I can't get the vaccine independent of vets. This is a cost I didn't anticipate.
Do I routeenly vaccinate a breeding trio and start again with my fingers crossed.

I am so angry about RHDV2 - I think it is a bio-weapon. Even worse a WMD for the rabbit population.
They don't die quick and easy - they go in horrible pain. I dispatched where I could. Honestly, this has been awful.
And, there is nowhere to report this in the UK and there seems to be no tracking info.
Not sure what to do now. I am sad, angry and traumatised.

Any advice? Have you had any similar experiences? What did you decide to do?

First, my heart goes out to you. I've had some pretty bad times over the years, but to get hit this hard, this soon, is tragic.

I agree, it is probably a bioweapon - it certainly was intended as such for rabbits, at the very least. The virus was purposely weaponized in Australia and New Zealand in the 1990's to control wild rabbit populations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5749467/ Big surprise, it got out of hand. IMO, its creation was a monstrous undertaking, as were, and are, numerous others of its ilk. And unfortunately I don't think we can prevent further episodes of this kind; it's part of a bigger plan.

However... the good news: there is no virus, or any other disease that I am aware of, that is 100% fatal. There are tremendously virulent strains - like many of the ones humans develop on purpose - but there are always individuals that survive outbreaks, and eventually there are entire populations of resistant individuals. RHDV2 may take every rabbit in a single rabbitry, but it will not kill every rabbit everywhere (are there still wild rabbits in Australia and New Zealand?). IMO, as was the case for every contagious disease before we were taught that vaccinations and drugs would save us all from everything, we should be minimizing exposure of our rabbits to the disease, while at the same time, working toward producing domestic populations of rabbits that are resistant to this and other diseases. And that means NOT euthanizing every single animal, sick or not, in a facility that is suspected to harbor RHDV2 (or avian flu, swine flu, mad cow disease, or any other of a number of diseases we're supposed to be terrified of), because in so doing, you are very likely killing off the hope of raising that resistant population. IMO, it also means NOT giving into the urging from above to forever give our food animals shots for these diseases, first because those shots are expensive but never completely effective; but also because in so doing, again, you are reducing the possibility of raising a naturally resistant population.

Twenty years ago we were told snuffles aka pasteurellosis was an instant death sentence for a rabbitry, but you can talk to many, many old timers to find out that it's just not a big deal anymore. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, or doesn't still make some rabbits sick, but there are hundreds of us out here who have just sucked it up and bred resistant animals (with loss and heartache along the way).

I am not at all making light of your loss, nor of the losses of people who've suffered from the swine, avian and bovine versions of these infuriating - in fact I'd call them outright evil - manipulations. Developing resistant populations comes at a cost of time, money, heartache and sometimes tears. But the alternative of letting the authorities swoop in and save us is unrealistic at best, and not trying to be food-independent is a non-starter. I've got a friend who lost 100% of his entire year of poultry production because the authorities decided he had avian flu on his property. Six birds died suddenly, and he called the state vet as he'd been taught he should do. Every single living bird on his farm was gassed and burned in a span of 12 hours, and he spent several weeks doing the authorities' bidding in terms of "sterilizing" his farm (as if such a thing could actually be accomplished). By the time that was done, there was no way to start again that year; it was a total loss for him.

There are groups in the world that would very much like us to be incapable of raising our own food, at least not without complete dependence on vaccines and other drugs. I still think it's worth trying. I hope you can mourn, let things settle, and try again. Maybe you'll have to do things a little differently, using cages, barns, or something other than colonies to reduce exposure, but I hope you won't give up. And I'll say a prayer that Jeremy is one of those special survivors that may be the foundation of a new and improved population!

 

[MsTemeraire]

Traumatic thread alert.

I now only have my buck left from my original breeding trio. RHDV2 hit my colony.

I was in a state of total rabbit joy.
I had decided to keep a bonded pair of boys, two lovely girls and of course my original breeding trio. My first rabbit breeding year had been bountiful, I was in the rabbit love zone.

Abundance. I processed 6 and was just at the point of processing 25 more as my annual leave came around.
Before I could harvest RHDV2 hit hard.
At first, I thought I had killed 6 of them by feeding them some crab apples and crab apple branches.
I started to research this and then the whole colony collapsed in every place where I kept them.
(Except for Jeremy who is on his own and who never gets handled - he is happy that way.)

They went from bright and binky to lethargic and off food, then convulsing, screaming haemorrhaging and dead in the space of a day. Total wipe out (except Jeremy ... at the moment) took 8 days.
I have ended up with everyone going into the incinerator.
I am in a terrible state of anxiety for Jeremy.
It seems that I could kill him just by feeding him just by wearing contaminated clothes.
This virus stays on everything despite heat and cold.
Bleach and lots of it is the only option for the cleanup.
This is a minefield.

Do I clean up, wait and try again? Could I get through another colony collapse?
It has been very traumatic. I invested heavily in this project with a view to self-sufficiency in meat.
I don't want to be vaccinating and then eating vaccinated animals.
I can't get the vaccine independent of vets. This is a cost I didn't anticipate.
Do I routeenly vaccinate a breeding trio and start again with my fingers crossed.

I am so angry about RHDV2 - I think it is a bio-weapon. Even worse a WMD for the rabbit population.
They don't die quick and easy - they go in horrible pain. I dispatched where I could. Honestly, this has been awful.
And, there is nowhere to report this in the UK and there seems to be no tracking info.
Not sure what to do now. I am sad, angry and traumatised.

Any advice? Have you had any similar experiences? What did you decide to do?

Unfortunately RHDV2 (usually just referred to as VHD in the UK) is endemic in the UK, which is the reason it's no longer a notifiable disease.

We have battled against VHD here in the UK since the early 1990s, when VHD1 arrived. VHD2 is a more recent strain which arrived from France about 8-9 years ago. I watched its spread with fear and dismay. Luckily, some vets were very proactive and a vaccine was imported from Europe. My rabbits were among the very first to be vaccinated against it here, thanks to a breeder scheme.

For a while everything went well with vets importing vaccine. Then Nobivac brought out its "Triple" vaccine and all the vets rushed to stock it. It protects against VHD1 (believed now no longer present in the UK), myxomatosis, and VHD2. But it was aimed primarily at the pet market meaning it can cost £50-£80 per rabbit! The vet now no longer stock the two imported vaccines, Filavac and Eravac, which were cheap enough for use by breeders and multi-rabbit owners. There is still one vet who can obtain Eravac and if you contact me I can give you details.

I have had it here twice: 6 years ago, and last year. In both cases my losses weren't huge, but nevertheless emotionally devastating as I have a very rare breed which was affected. I am still recovering from the last incidence.

Meanwhile, here is the very best information on the disease in the UK, compiled by rabbit speciality vet Frances Harcourt-Brown. This gives accurate epidemiology data plus what to do in the event of an outbreak. It is recommended not to add any new rabbits for a period of 4 months from the last death, in effect going into a "rabbit lockdown" for that period, which I did on both occasions, this being a rule of the British Rabbit Council of which I am a member.

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease
How to deal with an outbreak of RHD

 

[MsTemeraire]

I just need to add, Jeremy will need vaccinating asap, as his best chance of survival. You can take him to your vet for Nobivac but be aware that the VHD2 component of the Triple takes three weeks to start conferring protection. Your best bet is to use Eravac, which takes only 7 days and is a lot cheaper.

 

[Bekah-n-Tennessee]

Traumatic thread alert.

I now only have my buck left from my original breeding trio. RHDV2 hit my colony.

I was in a state of total rabbit joy.
I had decided to keep a bonded pair of boys, two lovely girls and of course my original breeding trio. My first rabbit breeding year had been bountiful, I was in the rabbit love zone.

Abundance. I processed 6 and was just at the point of processing 25 more as my annual leave came around.
Before I could harvest RHDV2 hit hard.
At first, I thought I had killed 6 of them by feeding them some crab apples and crab apple branches.
I started to research this and then the whole colony collapsed in every place where I kept them.
(Except for Jeremy who is on his own and who never gets handled - he is happy that way.)

They went from bright and binky to lethargic and off food, then convulsing, screaming haemorrhaging and dead in the space of a day. Total wipe out (except Jeremy ... at the moment) took 8 days.
I have ended up with everyone going into the incinerator.
I am in a terrible state of anxiety for Jeremy.
It seems that I could kill him just by feeding him just by wearing contaminated clothes.
This virus stays on everything despite heat and cold.
Bleach and lots of it is the only option for the cleanup.
This is a minefield.

Do I clean up, wait and try again? Could I get through another colony collapse?
It has been very traumatic. I invested heavily in this project with a view to self-sufficiency in meat.
I don't want to be vaccinating and then eating vaccinated animals.
I can't get the vaccine independent of vets. This is a cost I didn't anticipate.
Do I routeenly vaccinate a breeding trio and start again with my fingers crossed.

I am so angry about RHDV2 - I think it is a bio-weapon. Even worse a WMD for the rabbit population.
They don't die quick and easy - they go in horrible pain. I dispatched where I could. Honestly, this has been awful.
And, there is nowhere to report this in the UK and there seems to be no tracking info.
Not sure what to do now. I am sad, angry and traumatised.

Any advice? Have you had any similar experiences? What did you decide to do?

I am so deeply sorry for your loss, that is devastating .

Although I'm still too new to be able to give you any decent advice, I just want to say I completely agree with Alaska Satin on absolutely every they said, 100%. Humans will never seem to learn to not play God...

 

[MsTemeraire]

I am so deeply sorry for your loss, that is devastating .

Although I'm still too new to be able to give you any decent advice, I just want to say I completely agree with Alaska Satin on absolutely every they said, 100%. Humans will never seem to learn to not play God...

Not man-made, but man-spread in some countries. RHDV2 arose as a mutation of the original strain in France - viruses mutate, as we all now know post-Covid. There is an accurate history of its spread here:
History of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD)

 

[Skai]

First, my heart goes out to you. I've had some pretty bad times over the years, but to get hit this hard, this soon, is tragic.

I agree, it is probably a bioweapon - it certainly was intended as such for rabbits, at the very least. The virus was purposely weaponized in Australia and New Zealand in the 1990's to control wild rabbit populations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5749467/ Big surprise, it got out of hand. IMO, its creation was a monstrous undertaking, as were, and are, numerous others of its ilk. And unfortunately I don't think we can prevent further episodes of this kind; it's part of a bigger plan.

However... the good news: there is no virus, or any other disease that I am aware of, that is 100% fatal. There are tremendously virulent strains - like many of the ones humans develop on purpose - but there are always individuals that survive outbreaks, and eventually there are entire populations of resistant individuals. RHDV2 may take every rabbit in a single rabbitry, but it will not kill every rabbit everywhere (are there still wild rabbits in Australia and New Zealand?). IMO, as was the case for every contagious disease before we were taught that vaccinations and drugs would save us all from everything, we should be minimizing exposure of our rabbits to the disease, while at the same time, working toward producing domestic populations of rabbits that are resistant to this and other diseases. And that means NOT euthanizing every single animal, sick or not, in a facility that is suspected to harbor RHDV2 (or avian flu, swine flu, mad cow disease, or any other of a number of diseases we're supposed to be terrified of), because in so doing, you are very likely killing off the hope of raising that resistant population. IMO, it also means NOT giving into the urging from above to forever give our food animals shots for these diseases, first because those shots are expensive but never completely effective; but also because in so doing, again, you are reducing the possibility of raising a naturally resistant population.

Twenty years ago we were told snuffles aka pasteurellosis was an instant death sentence for a rabbitry, but you can talk to many, many old timers to find out that it's just not a big deal anymore. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, or doesn't still make some rabbits sick, but there are hundreds of us out here who have just sucked it up and bred resistant animals (with loss and heartache along the way).

I am not at all making light of your loss, nor of the losses of people who've suffered from the swine, avian and bovine versions of these infuriating - in fact I'd call them outright evil - manipulations. Developing resistant populations comes at a cost of time, money, heartache and sometimes tears. But the alternative of letting the authorities swoop in and save us is unrealistic at best, and not trying to be food-independent is a non-starter. I've got a friend who lost 100% of his entire year of poultry production because the authorities decided he had avian flu on his property. Six birds died suddenly, and he called the state vet as he'd been taught he should do. Every single living bird on his farm was gassed and burned in a span of 12 hours, and he spent several weeks doing the authorities' bidding in terms of "sterilizing" his farm (as if such a thing could actually be accomplished). By the time that was done, there was no way to start again that year; it was a total loss for him.

There are groups in the world that would very much like us to be incapable of raising our own food, at least not without complete dependence on vaccines and other drugs. I still think it's worth trying. I hope you can mourn, let things settle, and try again. Maybe you'll have to do things a little differently, using cages, barns, or something other than colonies to reduce exposure, but I hope you won't give up. And I'll say a prayer that Jeremy is one of those special survivors that may be the foundation of a new and improved population!

@Alaska Satin An impressive response.

 

[NZ:Julia]

Thank you so much for your wonderful replies. I am one of life's percolators so it will take me a while to pull myself together and decide what I am going to do. I am very much in alignment with @Alaska Satin re not vaccinating and the development of rabbit strains that have some immunity. It sounds from the collective wisdom that this is something I am going to have to suck up if I want to continue the journey.

At the moment I am angry and not thinking straight. My gut is saying that the best thing I can do is to start to build connections with UK breeders who have unvaccinated survivors, pool resources and try to beat this situation by working collectively.

I am also thinking I should reach out to research centres to find out if anyone is already breeding resistant strains. We have so few wild rabbits now, this must be on the minds of people interested in ecology.

There are agricultural colleges that have small animal care departments that I could contact.

So, I am in 'rabbit lockdown' and I am also percolating on the interesting post of @MsTemeraire with super helpful UK-based info for me to think about.

I will need to do some thinking and researching on what is happening across the UK. I am just so very angry about this. Angry about the devastation being caused to Indigenous populations and the collapse of our native rabbit species. I am angry about potentially being handcuffed to big pharma, angry about the loss of my food security plan. Angry with the hubris that enabled this Djinn to get out of the bottle, angry with the bio-weapon creators.

The bottom line is that I am a prepper, an angry truther and I thought I had a handle on things until this happened. Now like so much of modern life, the problem is very complex and it is going to take some dexterity to move forward.

I want everyone to be able to achieve food security should they wish. In the UK in wartime, it was very common for families to keep rabbits for food. It was essential to our survival. As a nation, we have been led by the nose into blind obedience, and compliance and given away our power.

I am not just cross about rabbits, I am cross about everyone reaching a point where owning nothing and being happy is the only option. And the nasty, nasty long game that has been played to get us to this point.

 

[Bekah-n-Tennessee]

Thank you so much for your wonderful replies. I am one of life's percolators so it will take me a while to pull myself together and decide what I am going to do. I am very much in alignment with @Alaska Satin re not vaccinating and the development of rabbit strains that have some immunity. It sounds from the collective wisdom that this is something I am going to have to suck up if I want to continue the journey.

At the moment I am angry and not thinking straight. My gut is saying that the best thing I can do is to start to build connections with UK breeders who have unvaccinated survivors, pool resources and try to beat this situation by working collectively.

I am also thinking I should reach out to research centres to find out if anyone is already breeding resistant strains. We have so few wild rabbits now, this must be on the minds of people interested in ecology.

There are agricultural colleges that have small animal care departments that I could contact.

So, I am in 'rabbit lockdown' and I am also percolating on the interesting post of @MsTemeraire with super helpful UK-based info for me to think about.

I will need to do some thinking and researching on what is happening across the UK. I am just so very angry about this. Angry about the devastation being caused to Indigenous populations and the collapse of our native rabbit species. I am angry about potentially being handcuffed to big pharma, angry about the loss of my food security plan. Angry with the hubris that enabled this Djinn to get out of the bottle, angry with the bio-weapon creators.

The bottom line is that I am a prepper, an angry truther and I thought I had a handle on things until this happened. Now like so much of modern life, the problem is very complex and it is going to take some dexterity to move forward.

I want everyone to be able to achieve food security should they wish. In the UK in wartime, it was very common for families to keep rabbits for food. It was essential to our survival. As a nation, we have been led by the nose into blind obedience, and compliance and given away our power.

I am not just cross about rabbits, I am cross about everyone reaching a point where owning nothing and being happy is the only option. And the nasty, nasty long game that has been played to get us to this point.

I cannot like your post more, although an American, I feel so much for my brothers and sisters in the UK fighting the same fight for our liberty, freedom and ultimately our futures. You are incredibly justified in your anger and I'm angry for you as well. I wish I had some great wisdom to share or could provide actionable knowledge but I can only offer you emotional support and the knowledge that you are not alone in this battle.

Those like us would rather die on our feet than live on our knees so mourn your losses deeply but use it as fuel to fight back even harder while pushing forward.

(Grand daughter of an English war bride .)

 

[dlynn]

Thank you so much for your wonderful replies. I am one of life's percolators so it will take me a while to pull myself together and decide what I am going to do. I am very much in alignment with @Alaska Satin re not vaccinating and the development of rabbit strains that have some immunity. It sounds from the collective wisdom that this is something I am going to have to suck up if I want to continue the journey.

At the moment I am angry and not thinking straight. My gut is saying that the best thing I can do is to start to build connections with UK breeders who have unvaccinated survivors, pool resources and try to beat this situation by working collectively.

I am also thinking I should reach out to research centres to find out if anyone is already breeding resistant strains. We have so few wild rabbits now, this must be on the minds of people interested in ecology.

There are agricultural colleges that have small animal care departments that I could contact.

So, I am in 'rabbit lockdown' and I am also percolating on the interesting post of @MsTemeraire with super helpful UK-based info for me to think about.

I will need to do some thinking and researching on what is happening across the UK. I am just so very angry about this. Angry about the devastation being caused to Indigenous populations and the collapse of our native rabbit species. I am angry about potentially being handcuffed to big pharma, angry about the loss of my food security plan. Angry with the hubris that enabled this Djinn to get out of the bottle, angry with the bio-weapon creators.

The bottom line is that I am a prepper, an angry truther and I thought I had a handle on things until this happened. Now like so much of modern life, the problem is very complex and it is going to take some dexterity to move forward.

I want everyone to be able to achieve food security should they wish. In the UK in wartime, it was very common for families to keep rabbits for food. It was essential to our survival. As a nation, we have been led by the nose into blind obedience, and compliance and given away our power.

I am not just cross about rabbits, I am cross about everyone reaching a point where owning nothing and being happy is the only option. And the nasty, nasty long game that has been played to get us to this point.

We are at a scary place! The big pharma that makes our "medicines" also make the poisons that sicken us, manipulate disease, genetically modify our foods into something that can't live without their crap. (Remember Monsanto's campaign to eliminate seed saving and heritage seeds) Municipality's outlawing livestock. It mand now AI. I remember junk waffle cartoons of the 1970s. Humans reduced to

 

[dlynn]

Thank you so much for your wonderful replies. I am one of life's percolators so it will take me a while to pull myself together and decide what I am going to do. I am very much in alignment with @Alaska Satin re not vaccinating and the development of rabbit strains that have some immunity. It sounds from the collective wisdom that this is something I am going to have to suck up if I want to continue the journey.

At the moment I am angry and not thinking straight. My gut is saying that the best thing I can do is to start to build connections with UK breeders who have unvaccinated survivors, pool resources and try to beat this situation by working collectively.

I am also thinking I should reach out to research centres to find out if anyone is already breeding resistant strains. We have so few wild rabbits now, this must be on the minds of people interested in ecology.

There are agricultural colleges that have small animal care departments that I could contact.

So, I am in 'rabbit lockdown' and I am also percolating on the interesting post of @MsTemeraire with super helpful UK-based info for me to think about.

I will need to do some thinking and researching on what is happening across the UK. I am just so very angry about this. Angry about the devastation being caused to Indigenous populations and the collapse of our native rabbit species. I am angry about potentially being handcuffed to big pharma, angry about the loss of my food security plan. Angry with the hubris that enabled this Djinn to get out of the bottle, angry with the bio-weapon creators.

The bottom line is that I am a prepper, an angry truther and I thought I had a handle on things until this happened. Now like so much of modern life, the problem is very complex and it is going to take some dexterity to move forward.

I want everyone to be able to achieve food security should they wish. In the UK in wartime, it was very common for families to keep rabbits for food. It was essential to our survival. As a nation, we have been led by the nose into blind obedience, and compliance and given away our power.

I am not just cross about rabbits, I am cross about everyone reaching a point where owning nothing and being happy is the only option. And the nasty, nasty long game that has been played to get us to this point.

I have come to see rabbits as critical to my health (physical and emotional)and the health of my gardens. I hope you don't give up. So sorry for your troubles.

 

[dlynn]

We are at a scary place! The big pharma that makes our "medicines" also make the poisons that sicken us, manipulate disease, genetically modify our foods into something that can't live without their crap. (Remember Monsanto's campaign to eliminate seed saving and heritage seeds) Municipality's outlawing livestock. It mand now AI. I remember junk waffle cartoons of the 1970s. Humans reduced to

Sorry this got garbled and cut. Junk waffle was an underground comic in the 70s, about humans living underground like rats, while a devasted world was ruled over by self replicating machines

 

[Skai]

Thank you so much for your wonderful replies. I am one of life's percolators so it will take me a while to pull myself together and decide what I am going to do. I am very much in alignment with @Alaska Satin re not vaccinating and the development of rabbit strains that have some immunity. It sounds from the collective wisdom that this is something I am going to have to suck up if I want to continue the journey.

At the moment I am angry and not thinking straight. My gut is saying that the best thing I can do is to start to build connections with UK breeders who have unvaccinated survivors, pool resources and try to beat this situation by working collectively.

I am also thinking I should reach out to research centres to find out if anyone is already breeding resistant strains. We have so few wild rabbits now, this must be on the minds of people interested in ecology.

There are agricultural colleges that have small animal care departments that I could contact.

So, I am in 'rabbit lockdown' and I am also percolating on the interesting post of @MsTemeraire with super helpful UK-based info for me to think about.

I will need to do some thinking and researching on what is happening across the UK. I am just so very angry about this. Angry about the devastation being caused to Indigenous populations and the collapse of our native rabbit species. I am angry about potentially being handcuffed to big pharma, angry about the loss of my food security plan. Angry with the hubris that enabled this Djinn to get out of the bottle, angry with the bio-weapon creators.

The bottom line is that I am a prepper, an angry truther and I thought I had a handle on things until this happened. Now like so much of modern life, the problem is very complex and it is going to take some dexterity to move forward.

I want everyone to be able to achieve food security should they wish. In the UK in wartime, it was very common for families to keep rabbits for food. It was essential to our survival. As a nation, we have been led by the nose into blind obedience, and compliance and given away our power.

I am not just cross about rabbits, I am cross about everyone reaching a point where owning nothing and being happy is the only option. And the nasty, nasty long game that has been played to get us to this point.

During war time, people in the U.S. were encouraged to have a Victory Garden and many kept rabbits and chickens, and that habit hung around for many years after WWII. I remember chasing a chicken for my Grandmother, after she beheaded it, so she could cook it for dinner. Now, I have my own Victory Garden. What I hope will be victory against Socialism. However, everything I do has to be covert. I have three acres, half of which is behind a 6 foot wood fence but I'm not supposed to have livestock in my subdivision. How ridiculous is that with the situation in the world today!

 

[Scooter1A]

Proud to be a member here. So sorry for your losses and I can imagine how awful it was. We do what we have to do in the moment and then our bodies react to the intense stress and fear. You will be OK. What if you found some mut meat rabbits and started over? I hope you find the answer you need. And yes I agree with others that this is orchestrated and personally I want to even the score. Pray God gives you the answers and helps. God helps me with my rabbits. I believe he put the idea in my head to get them for food survival. WWG1WGA
Pray, feed Jeremy and have a big glass of wine.

 

[NZ:Julia]

It is a beautiful thing to be in your company. I am so grateful to have found you and welcome all your words into my head. I never expected to find a like-minded community, yet here we are, super smart, and fighting like mad for sovereignty. Though this experience has been awful, I have been born up by your kindness. I have experienced a feeling of belonging in this community in a way I haven't felt anywhere else in more than half my lifetime.

I will start over, food security is my priority, and I will develop resistance because I now have a fire burning in my heart and mind. Anger is a source of energy and a wonderful motivational tool. xxx The bell is ringing! xxx

 

[NZ:Julia]

Sorry this got garbled and cut. Junk waffle was an underground comic in the 70s, about humans living underground like rats, while a devasted world was ruled over by self replicating machines

Junk Waffle sounds like something I need in my life. In the 80's I was reading Warrior Comics and discovering Alan Moore. Then came Tank Girl. In the deep corners of my mind, I am Tank Girl hanging out with mutant kangaroos and fighting Big Power and Water in a post-apocalyptic world.

 

[Scooter1A]

During war time, people in the U.S. were encouraged to have a Victory Garden and many kept rabbits and chickens, and that habit hung around for many years after WWII. I remember chasing a chicken for my Grandmother, after she beheaded it, so she could cook it for dinner. Now, I have my own Victory Garden. What I hope will be victory against Socialism. However, everything I do has to be covert. I have three acres, half of which is behind a 6 foot wood fence but I'm not supposed to have livestock in my subdivision. How ridiculous is that with the situation in the world today!

Victory will be ours.
It's hot here, rabbits in basement during the day. We cooled down for quite a while so this heat wave felt brutal.

 

[Bekah-n-Tennessee]

WWG1WGA
Pray, feed Jeremy and have a big glass of wine.

WWG1WGA...Cheers

 

[dlynn]

During war time, people in the U.S. were encouraged to have a Victory Garden and many kept rabbits and chickens, and that habit hung around for many years after WWII. I remember chasing a chicken for my Grandmother, after she beheaded it, so she could cook it for dinner. Now, I have my own Victory Garden. What I hope will be victory against Socialism. However, everything I do has to be covert. I have three acres, half of which is behind a 6 foot wood fence but I'm not supposed to have livestock in my subdivision. How ridiculous is that with the situation in the world today!

Even more ridiculous that all my neighbors have big preditor animals (dogs) that they walk down the street to crap anywhere but in their own yards but I can't have a chicken, or duck. I came to rabbits and quail because I couldn't find any specific rules prohibiting them. Glad I did. I love my rabbits but I live in fear of losing them because of some of those who don't like that I eat my animals. Or grow gardens instead of carpet like lawns.. Heres to animal equality. If there has to be minimum acreage, hundreds of feet from another's property, ..out right bans. They should apply to their animals too. Glad you found a way. Too bad you have to hide. You should be proud of your hard work

 

[RFSatins]

I am so sorry for you. It is a shocking disease. I am also in the UK and lost an entire litter of baby rabbits to RHD in 2020.

My plan had been to keep the adults indoors and grow out the youngsters in tractors on pasture.

It isn’t a viable way of feeding our family and dogs if I pay to vaccinate the rabbits we are going to eat. So what I have had to do is reverse my plan. Now my adults are vaccinated and graze outdoors on pasture. The babies of vaccinated does are covered by maternal antibodies for five weeks or more. And my youngsters are moved into grow-out pens in my barn when those antibodies wear off.

I have reduced the cost of vaccination by getting a vet to teach me how to vaccinate and he gives me a prescription so I can buy the vaccine. It’s still £30 per shot, but I am also experimenting with half doses. I have also placed mosquito netting across door and windows in my barn, and I keep spare shoes in the barn that we change into before entering the rabbit pens. I don't know if my efforts are keeping my rabbits safe or if I have just been lucky, but we've been ok with this system so far.