---
title: "A “Bunny Ebola” Epidemic Is Sweeping Through America’s Rabbits"
description: "\"Bunny Ebola,\" a deadly hemorrhagic disease that infects rabbits, is spreading through domestic and wild populations in the U.S."
date: "2020-07-21"
modified: "2020-07-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/bunny-ebola-americas-rabbits"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "animals"
  - "bunny ebola"
  - "medicine"
---

# A “Bunny Ebola” Epidemic Is Sweeping Through America’s Rabbits

!["Bunny Ebola," a deadly hemorrhagic disease that infects rabbits, is spreading through domestic and wild populations in the U.S.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bunny-ebola-epidemic-nations-rabbits.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Mandz11\</em\>*

Pet owners and wildlife conservationists alike are terrified of a deadly, highly-contagious disease spreading among rabbit populations in the United States.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, which has picked up the evocative moniker "Bunny Ebola," has been around for decades. But now it's hitting the U.S. hard, with rabbit deaths reported in New York, Washington, and now seven states in the southwest, *[Popular Science ](<https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/bunny-ebola-rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease/>)*[reports](<https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/bunny-ebola-rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease/>). It's devastating both domestic and wild — and sometimes endangered — rabbit populations.

Susan Kerr, an education and outreach specialist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, told *Popular Science* that the disease's high infection and mortality rates "both represent a longtime fear that has come true. Rabbit enthusiasts have always been terrified of this disease."

To be absolutely clear: the disease, [despite its nickname](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/world-health-organization-confirms-ebola-outbreak-congo>), is unrelated to Ebola and can't infect humans. The name comes from how similar the two disease's symptoms are: infected rabbits have a low chance of surviving the severe inflammation, bleeding, and organ failure that rabbit hemorrhagic disease causes.

Experts say rabbit owners can protect their pets by foregoing wild grass and pine boughs. There's also a vaccine that can be imported from Europe, *Popular Science* reports. But conservationists will have a hard time protecting wild rabbits which, if they die off, could deprive other animals of a vital food source.

For some species, conservationists' strategies basically boil down to crossing their fingers, *Popular* *Science* reports.

"I'm hoping that because \[the rabbit-like species\] pika live at such high elevations that maybe... they will be just disconnected enough that the virus won't get to them," Deana Clifford, senior wildlife veterinarian at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Investigations Lab, told *Popular* Science. "But we don't know."

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)