Archive: March 2015

In the last few weeks vets, farmers and hunters in central Friesland have reported a high rate of death among wild hares in the area. To date, the bacterial disease tularemia, caused by Francisella tularensis, has been associated with the death of eight hares from the area surrounding the Friesian town of Akkrum.

Two hares submitted to the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre at the start of 2015 for post-mortem exam had died from toxoplasmosis. The animals, from Utrecht and Drenthe, had a moderate nutritional status and one had inflammation in the lungs, liver, brain and heart. When tissues from both animals were examined under