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Town hit by rabbit disease
A deadly disease which has left millions of animals dead worldwide has broken out in Wigan.
Vets across the borough have been called on to put down increasing numbers of rabbits because of a renewed outbreak of myxomatosis.
This summer's warm, wet conditions have been ideal for the breeding cycle of biting insects like mosquitoes and horseflies – which carry the virus – to flourish.
Pet rabbits can pick up myxomatosis from other infected wild cousins, but it is more commonly spread by fleas and can even be transmitted via cats and dogs if they hunt wild rabbits.
Owners who keep rabbits in outdoor hutches should protect them with flyscreens, remove standing water and put up fencing to keep out wild rabbits.
Myxomatosis was a man-made disease cultured in the 1950s to control the rabbit population in Australia, where their huge numbers were wiping out crops.
It almost wiped out the native population of rabbits when it was illegally introduced into Britain almost a decade later.
Symptoms of the disease are runny eyes and swollen genitals, followed by severe swelling of the eyes and eyelids, leading to blindness.
Walkers should also look out for rabbits with swollen head and ears along with further swellings on the skin.
Animals can be vaccinated against myxomatosis from six weeks of age and one injection will give protection for six to 12 months.
But those which have not been vaccinated usually die within a few days.
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust's countryside manager Graham Workman said that he wasn't surprised by fears of a significant return for the disease across the borough.
In his three decades studying local wildlife, he had witnessed at least half a dozen outbreaks.
He said: "It is certainly a horrible way to die for the poor creatures.
"The thing to stress though is that it isn't transmittable to humans.
"It was deliberately introduced into Britain without permission or licence in the 1950s and is now endemic to the rabbit population, although some have built up a certain resistance to it."
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
