Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease

July 15, 2021

Question: Is a vaccine available for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease virus type 2 (RHDV2), which was confirmed in 2020 in wild rabbit populations in California?

Answer: Yes, although there are no commercially available RHDV2 vaccines in the United States. Under authorization of the state veterinarian at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), vaccines produced in Europe may be imported into California for use in domestic rabbits by licensed veterinarians. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are using imported vaccines to protect California’s most endangered rabbit, the riparian brush rabbit, against RHDV2. Information on RHDV2 in domestic rabbits can be found on CDFA’s website(opens in new tab). To learn more about vaccinating domestic rabbits against RHDV2 contact your veterinarian.

Riparian brush rabbits are found in small patches of remaining riparian forest habitat in the northern portion of the Central Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Because vaccinations require trapping and administering injections to each individual rabbit, it is not feasible to deploy vaccinations for wild rabbit populations except in cases where populations are small and endangered. CDFW has received reports that live rabbits are still observed in areas where we have confirmed the virus is present, giving us hope that some rabbits are surviving infection.

RHDV2 was first observed in wild rabbits in the southwestern U.S. in March 2020 and has rapidly spread to many states. In California, cases of the virus in wild rabbits have been detected in Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Cases in domestic rabbits have also been confirmed in Ventura and San Louis Obispo counties. RHDV2 is not related to the novel coronavirus and does not affect humans or domestic animals other than rabbits.

You and others can help by keeping your eyes open and reporting any sick or dead wild rabbits as our wildlife veterinarians monitor the situation. We're asking anyone who lives, works or recreates in wild rabbit habitat to report sightings of sick or dead rabbits to CDFW’s Wildlife Health Laboratory at (916) 358-2790, or file an online mortality report through CDFW’s website.

CDFW’s RHDV2 webpage includes fact sheets and information about the virus, how to report sightings of dead rabbits, ways to prevent human-caused spread of the disease, and a link to the U.S. Department of Agriculture interactive map showing counties where the disease has been confirmed in domestic, feral and/or wild rabbits.