Public on alert after deadly rabbit disease detected in Pa.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is asking the public for help after a deadly virus affecting rabbits was found in Pennsylvania.
The game commission released a statement Tuesday asking people to report any hare or rabbit mortality events in regard to Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD), which poses no human health risks.
“It’s a little more directed toward folks who raise rabbits,” said Shannon Powers, press secretary of the state Department of Agriculture. “The Department of Agriculture regulates domestic animals and has the authority to put quarantines and restrictions in place to control what falls under the heading of dangerous, transmissible diseases, and this is under that heading.”
A mortality event is defined by the game commission as finding two or more dead hares or rabbits at the same location with an unknown cause of death.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, two rabbits from a facility located in Fayette County tested positive in early August for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2 (RHDV2), which is one of the viruses that causes RHD.
The two captive rabbits were specifically raised as meat rabbits, Powers said.
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