BRITAIN’S entire pet rabbit population is at risk from a deadly virus which can kill without warning in hours. The disease – new to the UK and spreading rapidly – is being blamed for a huge ...

In 1995, a government survey, external put the population in the UK at 37.5 million. But at about this time rabbit haemorrhagic disease , external , which causes fever, lethargy and then death, hit.

Rabbits have been scarce in many areas due to disease, so it is nice to see the first hints of a comeback happening with juveniles scampering around again, at least in my neck of the woods.

In under three months the disease spread thousands of kilometres, killing hundreds of millions of rabbits in its wake. The disease was illegally introduced into France when in 1952 Dr Paul-Félix ...