Rabbit, rabbits, rabbits. A thing of the past?
There are so many rabbits in some areas of the world that is is hard to imagine them being considered endangered. In some areas of Europe and America they are so prevalent that they are considered to be pests.
However, in the Iberian Peninsula , where Spain and Portugal are located, the animals are seeing severe population declines. This is the native home to the European rabbit although it was introduced to Western Europe by the Romans, and brought to the Americas and Australia during the expansion of the British and Spanish empires.
The decrease in the number of rabbits has a knock on effect on the entire food chain of the region, with negative implications for the critically endangered animals such as the Spanish Imperial Eagle and the Iberian Lynx. The Iberian Lynx is the world’s most endangered feline, and a specialized predator of rabbits, and some preservation groups are trying to encourage more protection for rabbit species in an attempt to help the Lynx survive.
Over-hunting, habitat loss, and eradication programs, along with disease epidemics (Myxomatosis in the 1950s and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Virus in 1989), are threatening the European Rabbit's population. The worst enemy of the rabbits has been the two diseases.
Myxomatosis is a South American virus that is mainly spread by mosquitoes and fleas. However, it was intentionally introduced in France by a farmer in the mid 1950s to help control the rabbit population. It is estimated that 90 per cent of European rabbits have succumbed to the disease since then.
The Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease is also a virus. It spread in Europe in the late 1980’s and killed about 55 to 75 per cent of rabbits on the Iberian Peninsula. It is thought that global warming may increase incidents of the disease by creating a warmer and drier climate in Spain and Portugal.Man has also had a more direct hand in the decline of the rabbits as farmers often control their numbers by poisoning and trapping them. Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers has also affected the species through tainted food and water supplies.
A genetically modified version of the myxomatosis disease is being developed in Australia to suppress rabbit fertility, and this future threat to the rabbits is causing great concern amongst those trying to monitor the food chain of endangered species in Europe. If the modified virus was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula, it is thought that it could possibly wipe out the entire rabbit population in a terrifyingly short space of time.
National authorities in Portugal reclassified the rabbits as near threatened in 2006, and in Spain in 2007 the animals were regarded as vulnerable. In 2008, the European Rabbit was listed as "near threatened" across the whole of its native region with experts stating that over 95% of the population has been lost since 1950.
This may pressure the countries’ governments and conservation groups to take action to help save the rabbits.
Without these animals, conservationists fear it likely that large portions of the area's entire ecosystem will collapse, with many endangered species such as the Lynx dying out forever.
