Barriers to Management of a Foreign Animal Disease at the Wildlife-Domestic Animal Interface: The Case of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease in the United States – In this article, Shapiro et al. assess the degree to which government agencies are positioned to engage in cross-jurisdictional approaches to mitigate pathogen spillover by conducting the first study of how agricultural and wildlife agencies in the United States of America (U.S.) have responded to RHDV2 since it was detected in wild and domestic lagomorphs in March 2020. They found that inconsistent jurisdiction within and across states over lagomorph populations and industries, limited knowledge of wild lagomorph populations and the composition of the domestic rabbit industry, and resource constraints have hindered
management efforts. You can read in more detail by downloading the document here.
Engaging stakeholders in wildlife disease management: Hunters’ willingness to adopt and support biosecurity actions to prevent the spread of rabbit hemorrhagic disease – In this article, Shapiro et al. summarize the results of a nationwide survey of hunters to understand their willingness to engage in biosecurity actions. Respondents’ willingness to engage in or support biosecurity actions was positively correlated with their risk perceptions pertaining to lagomorph deaths and the economic impacts of RHDV2, perceptions of the importance of biosecurity,
and trust in state agencies to manage RHDV2. It was also positively related to their knowledge of RHDV2. Because of this, the authors recommend wildlife agencies should clearly communicate about RHDV2 and its adverse impacts on lagomorphs, biodiversity, and hunting to engage hunters in biosecurity measures.