Porto Santo has been repopulated with healthy, vaccinated rabbits, after their numbers were decimated by VHD (viral hemorrhagic disease), a highly infectious and lethal form of viral hepatitis that affects European rabbits, whose mortality rates range from 70% – 100%.
According to the President of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Institute (IFCN), Manuel Filipe, the new rabbit population will ensure that hunter’s have a good season at the end of the year.
The repopulation of the islands rabbits is a combined initiative between local hunters and the associations who represent them.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: Gary Bendig – Unsplash
