In "The World Today" aired Perth time about 1.20 pm on Wednesday October 7th a segment on "Rabbit Calicivirus Disease" (an incorrect name given to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease by Australian authorities) was so biased as to suggest that reporter John Taylor be sent back to journalism school. In this program Dr Brian Cooke (ex of the RCD program but apparently still monitoring RCD) said that Myxomatosis was killing 50% of rabbits in some areas and RCD was killing 85% of the remaining rabbits. In some (more lush) areas, the disease was not working.

It was mentioned that in the early days of Myxomatosis regarding whether Myxo would infect humans, a scientist (or two?) infected themselves with Myxomatosis to show that the disease wouldn't infect humans. (A statistical sample of one/two scientists is meant to appease our concerns that Myxo (or RCD?) will not infect humans? ). Perhaps John Taylor should have suggested that the scientists promoting RCD take a dose of RCD and see what the reaction is (a large dose like 100,000 RLD). RCD is an RNA virus not a pox virus and RNA viruses have a higher mutation rate. RCD was first seen in China in 1984 where the disease probably jumped to rabbits from another species. It is suspected that RCD is a calicivirus and 4 out of 5 main calicivirus groups are already known to infect humans. Current reports available on the CDC Atlanta website (Centre for Disease Control Atlanta) indicate that humans exposed to RCD in Australia suffered higher incidences of ill health than those non-exposed (based on Australian figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in Australia and forwarded to virologists in the USA).

And what about current official reports of RCD infected rabbits hopping around in New Zealand with their ears rotting away? Has the RCD virus mutated already in New Zealand? Will the RCD virus mutate to cause the same "ear-rot" in other species? What is happening inside the rabbits bodies if their ears (visible to us on the outside) are rotting away?

Obviously the ABC has not even considered the fact that 11 diurnal species of birds of prey depend mainly on rabbits as a food source? How many pairs of Wedge-tailed Eagles bred in the Strezlecki Ranges in 1997 since the RCD virus has been spread? Zero. Is the ABC aware that bird enthusiasts have been told that they will just have to get used to "having less birds!".

Hopefully the ABC will do more research on the RCD subject next time it chooses to air a segment on the issue. The Chairman of the Anti-rabbit Foundation may well wish to "boot the last rabbit over the fence of the Adelaide zoo" but at what cost? Also since when is it appropriate to suggest kicking any animal over the fence? Isn't this a suggested cruelty to animals? But then the ABC seems to have forgotten that wild rabbits and pet rabbits in Australia are the same species "The European rabbit" and that wild rabbits are sentient beings with souls and feelings (a point that people seem to marginalise in Australia). Cruelty to animals is NOT acceptable yet Australian authorities repeatedly treat animals in a way that shames the human race (whether it be using leghold traps to trap and kill our native Dingo in Western Australia or whether it be dropping zinc-phosphide from the air to kill anything that ingests the product or whether it be spreading diseases which kill animals in such a cruel manner as RCD and Myxomatosis).

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