The Rabbit

(i) Calicivirus

Prof. Alvin Smith of Oregon State University, who has been researching calicivirus for fourteen years, last year wrote an open letter to the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia, begging them to reconsider the release of calicivirus.

"The Calicivirus is virtually certain to spread to other animals and possibly humans." he said.

Calicivirus is said to be a "quiet death" - the animals die without protest. In many cases this is simply not true. In 1989 an International Seminar on Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (Calicivirus) was hosted by Ralston Purina International and attended by scientists from Italy, China, France, Germany and Hungary. The purpose was to discuss the possible impact of the Calicivirus on the commercial farming of rabbits, if the virus should escape. Scientists went on record as having observed these precursors to death by Calicivirus:

Infected animals suffer lesions of the bladder, which is full and paralysed, swollen lungs, congested liver, blindness, anorexia and prostration. The animals scream and finally die, while in the course of suffocation.

This is not a quiet death and certainly not a painless one.