Mixy rabbits

declan1980

I was passing throughout Gortnahoo heading out towards Ballysloe yesterday and saw three rabbits on the side of the road with obvious symptoms of mixomatosis. They were so bad they didn't even budge as I drove past.
If any lads here shoot there ye'd want to clear them mixy rabbits out before it spreads.

shooting101

declan1980 wrote: »

I was passing throughout Gortnahoo heading out towards Ballysloe yesterday and saw three rabbits on the side of the road with obvious symptoms of mixomatosis. They were so bad they didn't even budge as I drove past.
If any lads here shoot there ye'd want to clear them mixy rabbits out before it spreads.

how do know if they have mixomatosis

Cass

They became lethargic, don't feed, swell up in lumps, and have "bulbus" eyes. Enlarged, swollen, etc.

It's a plight, and spreads like wildfire. Death is anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. It can swipe out rabbits in an area in months. Best cull all infected ones you come across asap.

4200fps

Sounds abit like the Dawn of the Dead

Cass

And like dawn of the dead heads count.;)

Hunter21

Ezridax wrote: »

They became lethargic, don't feed, swell up in lumps, and have "bulbus" eyes. Enlarged, swollen, etc.

It's a plight, and spreads like wildfire. Death is anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. It can swipe out rabbits in an area in months. Best cull all infected ones you come across asap.

Not disputing you Ez, but I read somewhere that western Europe has mild strains of the disease and rabbits can suffer for up to a month before death.
When it was first introduced to Austrailia they died quickly.

What ever the time period it's a sinful thing to introduce to an area. Good shooting is quicker and as effective!

Some farmers need to be educated about the benefits of shooting.

Cass

Hunter21 wrote: »

Not disputing you Ez, ..........

Dispute away lad. I'm by no means an expert, and have never actually measured the length of time it takes.

I have seen more than my fair share over the years, and it's a terrible sight.

extremetaz

I reckon it's gonna be up around here fairly shortly too - population has exploded in the last few weeks.

I counted 21 rabbits along one hedgerow alone on one of my permissions - and that was at 3 in the afternoon!

homerhop

All it takes is a spell of wet weather and it will spread like wildfire

TriggerPL

Hunter21 wrote: »

Ezridax wrote: »

They became lethargic, don't feed, swell up in lumps, and have "bulbus" eyes. Enlarged, swollen, etc.

It's a plight, and spreads like wildfire. Death is anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. It can swipe out rabbits in an area in months. Best cull all infected ones you come across asap.

Not disputing you Ez, but I read somewhere that western Europe has mild strains of the disease and rabbits can suffer for up to a month before death.
When it was first introduced to Austrailia they died quickly.

What ever the time period it's a sinful thing to introduce to an area. Good shooting is quicker and as effective!

Some farmers need to be educated about the benefits of shooting.

Not condoning mexie rabbits being released,

But good shooting isn't quicker , yes you can keep them under control , but how many farmer shoot , and then we ask for permission , and mayb spend a few evening shooting them . Farmers need an effective method of getting rid , unfortunate that mixie is the way .

Birdnuts

TriggerPL wrote: »

Not condoning mexie rabbits being released,

But good shooting isn't quicker , yes you can keep them under control , but how many farmer shoot , and then we ask for permission , and mayb spend a few evening shooting them . Farmers need an effective method of getting rid , unfortunate that mixie is the way .

An expericed lad with ferrets will do an extremly effective job on clearing bunnies. i witnessed as much during a summer job years ago on a local stud farm. Bunnies were causing tunnel problems on the exercise track and cross country circut. 2 lads were called in with a couple of ferrets and nets. A days work and the place was near enough a rabbit free zone - I'd love to get into this line of work if I had the time:cool:

roro1neil0

is it not illegal to intentionally release rabbits with the myxi virus for pest control?

Cass

TriggerPL wrote: »

Farmers need an effective method of getting rid , unfortunate that mixie is the way .

It's not an effective method they use/seek it's a lazy method. A couple of lads shooting a couple of days per week would put a serious dent in rabbit numbers. Even if a land owner allowed lads on his land to shoot rabbits ONLY there would be lads willing to do it.

Purposely releasing diseased rabbits into a healthy population is wrong, and IIRC illegal.

TriggerPL

Ezridax wrote: »

TriggerPL wrote: »

Farmers need an effective method of getting rid , unfortunate that mixie is the way .

It's not an effective method they use/seek it's a lazy method. A couple of lads shooting a couple of days per week would put a serious dent in rabbit numbers. Even if a land owner allowed lads on his land to shoot rabbits ONLY there would be lads willing to do it.

Purposely releasing diseased rabbits into a healthy population is wrong, and IIRC illegal.

Like I said I don't condone it . Birdnut is right ferreting is the only ans , but it not easy to get a lad to ferret them and a lot of lads want paying for the job . I shoot a farmers lands once a week , and sometimes twice a week . But how many do the same . Look at it from a farmers point of view , animal breaks it leg in rabbit hole it a grand or more down the drain .

aurin07

This may be a stupid question but...


Where are the farmers getting the diseased rabbits in the first place?..

Cass

TBH, and without limiting what can be discusses, i would prefer if we did not go down the "blame the farmer" route. As with my post above it seems we have already judged farmer to be guilty of doing this.

Even if there was documented evidence land owners/farmers were doing this boards is not the place to be broadcasting such info. Also it's distasteful to accuse a section/group of doing something without direct knowldege/proof of such deeds.

So in short lets not go there.

Longfellow

If there be the Mixy in the local rabbit population it is best to straight away stop shooting the foxes around the place. Foxes will kill/remove all the diseased rabbits quickly and help stop the spread of it. If there are hardly any foxes around the place the mixy will spread more quickly.

Hunter21

TriggerPL wrote: »

Not condoning mexie rabbits being released,

But good shooting isn't quicker , yes you can keep them under control , but how many farmer shoot , and then we ask for permission , and mayb spend a few evening shooting them . Farmers need an effective method of getting rid , unfortunate that mixie is the way .

Ive done two weeks of constant shooting day and night and the farmer has said that shooting has been very effective, he was skeptical that we could reduce the numbers big time first. Now he said he'd recommend shooting as a cost effective, clean and quick method.

declan1980

Hunter21 wrote: »

Ive done two weeks of constant shooting day and night and the farmer has said that shooting has been very effective, he was skeptical that we could reduce the numbers big time first. Now he said he'd recommend shooting as a cost effective, clean and quick method.

Well done, it's great to hear a farmer saying that. He'll pass on the word to his buddies and if they have any rabbit problems, you'll be getting a call

TriggerPL

Hunter21 wrote: »

Ive done two weeks of constant shooting day and night and the farmer has said that shooting has been very effective, he was skeptical that we could reduce the numbers big time first. Now he said he'd recommend shooting as a cost effective, clean and quick method.

well done , so when did you sleep, work and eat ! how many people have the time to do what your saying . yes of course if you shooting day and night your going to make an impact ,

but look what your saying day and night for 2 weeks constant , unless getting paid who would do it

Hunter21

TriggerPL wrote: »

well done , so when did you sleep, work and eat ! how many people have the time to do what your saying . yes of course if you shooting day and night your going to make an impact ,

but look what your saying day and night for 2 weeks constant , unless getting paid who would do it

Sorry for my bad wording but when I said day and night I meant shooting them in daytime and under the lamp at night.

In two weeks we'd go for a few hours in the eveing one day and another day go at night, bags were double what we were coming out with during the day.

It took a bit of time but wasn't 24/7 shooting and wasn't getting paid, so again sorry for the bad wording in an earlier post by me.

dodderangler

i only seen one case of it this year when i was out with the hawk an the ferret
had to dig for it as ferret killed it basically had no pupils in the eyes but i didnt see any others and i done that land and ditches quite a bit
i thru the rabbit away as i thought that they not edible to anything
anyone else tell me can dogs or ferrets or any animals eat mixxy rabbits without gettin sick
atb

German pointer

dodderangler wrote: »

i only seen one case of it this year when i was out with the hawk an the ferret
had to dig for it as ferret killed it basically had no pupils in the eyes but i didnt see any others and i done that land and ditches quite a bit
i thru the rabbit away as i thought that they not edible to anything
anyone else tell me can dogs or ferrets or any animals eat mixxy rabbits without gettin sick
atb

Mu undrestanding is only the rabbits can get it. It is the first true man made biological agent that is animal specific. Even hares and other "cousins" of the rabbit are safe from it.

dodderangler

German pointer wrote: »

dodderangler wrote: »

i only seen one case of it this year when i was out with the hawk an the ferret
had to dig for it as ferret killed it basically had no pupils in the eyes but i didnt see any others and i done that land and ditches quite a bit
i thru the rabbit away as i thought that they not edible to anything
anyone else tell me can dogs or ferrets or any animals eat mixxy rabbits without gettin sick
atb

Mu undrestanding is only the rabbits can get it. It is the first true man made biological agent that is animal specific. Even hares and other "cousins" of the rabbit are safe from it.

But can other animals get sick from eatin the flesh
Just seems a waste of flesh is all

German pointer

dodderangler wrote: »

But can other animals get sick from eatin the flesh
Just seems a waste of flesh is all

Not that I know of. Lots of lads I know feed them to the dogs, ferrets etc. I have even come across a few cases of lads selling them in pubs, a few years ago now but the people still ate them unknowing.:eek: