Stray/wild bunnies and forage - the possible spread of disease to house rabbits

[MimzMum]

I hope this is in the correct section, if not if an admin or mod would kindly move it to where you think it should go I'd be much obliged.

I have a dilemma and not certain how to approach it.
For the last 7 or 8 years I have plucked assorted hayseed/long grass and things like plantain and dandelions from my backyard. The people who lived here before us had horses and so lots of good horsey food still grows here. Especially over the leach field. :roll:

I'm always very careful to take our forage from well away from any place that the dogs may have used as a toilet, where cars have been parked or where the soil appears to be infested with ants and other burrowing insects. I realize I can't catch everything that 'dirties' in my yard so of course anything I feed to the bunnies is well washed. We do not use pesticides and as far as I know neither do my neighbors.

I am not great with plant i.d., but I can tell we have growing here: lesser plantain, wild strawberries, dandelions of course, and the long grass is some of the first food I gave to Mimzy when he came to live with us. As long as I am careful not to give too much at one time, all three of my bunnies tolerate this extra food well and it seems to make them happy to have it even if only as a treat. In the last few years we've been so dry here that none of this is showing until late in the season, almost right up against when snow falls again. I will have to water my yard this year if I want to see anything come up in a reasonable time.


That is just back-story, my question is this...there are at least 3 house/farmed rabbits running about loose in my yard this year and I can't catch them and have to guess to whom they belong if I did. (I have a sneaking suspicion I know and if I am right it is a lost cause.) Since I don't know the health of these rabbits, is it possible that they will leave anything viral in my yard on my forage that can't be cleaned well enough? Is the forage now unsafe for my rabbits to eat because of this? Or do I just wash well and carry on as before? And should I be worried about any wild rabbits also soiling the greens before I give them to the bunnies? (The only rabbit-borne pathogen I think we need to worry about here is something called tularemia, but that is a scary enough prospect. The last case I know about was in 2013 and I'm not sure where in the Interior the rabbit was originally found.)

I do not mean this to be a thread about catching and rehoming stray, former pet rabbits. Of course this would be the ideal solution, but I'm not sure the SPCA would even venture this far out to trap a bunny suspected of being ill. The three I've seen appear to be healthy enough, save for one who may have ear mites. I hate that they are out there running around, but it's a good bet that even if I could return them to the right owner, (which would make me want to scream inside), they'd be wandering about again by evening. :evil: And if I just turned them into the shelter I will either face 'retribution' from said owner and/or they will just get more to replace the ones lost and into the wild they will go again.
I know this point of view makes me sound pathetic, but I'm trying to think of the safety of myself and my household...I have lost dogs to neighbors here before (antifreeze poisoning) just for them barking. I can't trust anyone as far as I can throw them.

So... should I go foraging far afield, forget about foraging altogether or continue picking from my own yard and just hope I am cleaning the greens well enough to keep my three very loved and cared for bunnies from harm?

Many thanks in advance! xxxx

 

[MightyMax]

I have often thought about this with regards to forage in the UK. VHD would be easily transmissible, one would assume, from forage contaminated by faeces from wild rabbits and other vectors. This is a concern where forage is brought into the home of rabbits who are too health compromised to be vaccinated.

I would be very interested in others' thoughts on this .............

 

[Hugo's There]

This is why I never pick more than dandelions from my own garden and spend a fortune buying dry forage!

 

[weeble]

For a healthy bun who is vaccinated I would think the risk is minimal. I do wash anything I pick from ground level though

 

[Shrinkie]

I don't think it sounds pathetic at all. Although just for the sake of throwing out there is there no way to report suspicion of neglect?

Anyway back to point.

I think to a degree there's always some minimal risk at least in free foraging. Fact is loading potential carriers etc can plod about and I'm not sure this is too different.

Maybe it's worth right now buying or indoor growing some plants and sending a sample of garden material to a University/lab which can test for contamination. If all is good can maybe section off a run for yours?

Further afield I'm not sure your surroundings but I'd say online you felt confident thatbthese rabbits haven't visited there(or other wild rabbits) in the home I woukdnconsider testing for contamination. Only issue with that is it can't guarantee the integrity of the plants in the future

 

[Santa]

This point was touched on by FHB at the seminar she ran recently - her view was that 'farmed' vegetables are a higher risk because they are far more likely to have been sprayed with pesticides/herbicides etc than wild plants. There is always of course the risk that any farmed vegetables have been grown in an area frequented by wild animals including bunnies. Personally I try and pick forage from above ground level when I'm not on my own property.

 

[MimzMum]

Thank you everyone. I'm glad this is a topic that many are interested in.
I tend to agree with Santa (and by extension, the laudable FHB) in that I would really like to limit the store bought veg the bunnies eat because of chemicals and even things like e. coli now and instead feed them a more "natural" alternative. But these stray bunnies do concern me in more ways than one.

Speaking of which, on my way home from town today, about halfway down the long road that leads to our place and within a short distance from heavy and fast moving traffic, someone else who has bunnies free ranging in an unenclosed yard...I could've exploded I was so angry!

What is wrong with people??
I may have to make a thread just for the rant about careless bunny owners to let off the steam that is building as I see more and more pets who have no supervision or proper care. I just had to go out my front door AGAIN because another neighbor's dog just took off with one of our trash bags. Then he has the nerve to bark at me on my own property for taking his 'prize' away! Argh!

Back on topic, since my original bunny vet is teaching about wildlife at the university I suppose I could try to get her opinion on the matter. Although I've never been told by her before that I shouldn't feed forage, but my guess is she may have a different opinion upon learning we have random bunnies swanning through our garden. :?

Weeble, there are no vaccinations required for rabbits in the US, we do not have VHD and even myxo is only sparingly about and a much less lethal version than is found in Oz and the UK. Myxo is currently only found in the lower 48 but as we are moving to California before the end of the year (hopefully) the bunnies may need a jab if there is one available.
I don't know how healthy I would say they all are. They are all in the 'senior' age range and Mimzy is a head tilt bun, definitely his better years are fading into the background, but he is the first one at the table when garden offerings are available.

 

[Shrinkie]

Oh! After reading some comments I think I may have gotten confused a little :lol:

I do agree with the idea of farming and pesticides, I know I usually grow from seed stuff for my beardie and now Rosie - the one time I did buy from a shop I kept pestering the poor sales assistant about if it had any treatments on it, then I took it home and was paranoid anyway that I still let it grow out any potential chemicals for 13 weeks!