Painted Bricks: Jackrabbit, Gillette Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: Jackrabbit, Gillette Wyoming.:  

Jackrabbit, Gillette Wyoming.

Going Feral: Report dead wild rabbits to Game and Fish

Going Feral: Report dead wild rabbits to Game and Fish:   

Report dead wild rabbits to Game and Fish

 Report dead wild rabbits to Game and Fish

POSTED:

JULY 20, 2020

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CHEYENNE REGION

NEWS

NEWS

Wyomingites are being asked to keep a lookout for dead rabbits in their yards, rural property and other outdoor areas. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is collecting wild rabbit carcasses for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus2 testing, known as RHDV2. While not found in Wyoming yet, the disease has been identified in neighboring states. Testing rabbits is key to monitoring the disease spread.

RHDV2 is a fatal disease of rabbits and hares. An estimated 35-50% of infected wild rabbits succumb to the disease.  

Samantha Allen, Game and Fish state wildlife veterinarian, said all of Wyoming’s rabbits and hares are susceptible — that includes game and nongame species like cottontail rabbits, jack rabbits and potentially, pygmy rabbits. Domestic rabbits are also at risk; however, other domestic pets and livestock are not at risk from the disease.

The first indication of RHDV2 infection in rabbits is dead animals.

“Any rabbit could become infected with the disease - so it could be a cottontail living in your yard or the one you see while hiking,” said Allen. “Please report any dead rabbits you find. Testing these carcasses is the only way to know if the disease is in Wyoming.”

The disease has been confirmed in California, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. 

RHDV2 does not pose a threat to humans, but rabbits carry other diseases which can —  like tularemia and plague. The public is advised not to touch or pick up any dead wild rabbits. Rather, note the location and call the Game and Fish Wildlife Health Lab at (307) 745-5865 or the nearest regional office. Game and Fish personnel will evaluate the situation, and make plans to collect the rabbit.

Saturday, April 5, 1924. Fighting the KKK in Lilly.

We haven't featured one for awhile, as they haven't been great, but on this day, The Country Gentleman restored the dignity of magazine cover art with a spring theme.

The Ku Klux Klan shot 22 people in Lilly, Pennsylvania, killing two.  The gunfire was sort of the equivalent of a drive by shooting, with the KKK shooting randomly into the town's railroad station after some townsmen, miner workers who were heavily immigrants from Eastern Europe, had "played a stream of water from the town fire hose upon the visitors(KKK) as they were marching back to the station." 

The KKK was in Lilly for one of their ceremonies in a local field and was returning to the station for transport to Johnstown, PA.  They did catch the train, and upon arrival at Johnstown they were met with 50 policemen who arrested 25 Klansman and confiscated 50 firearms.  The next day, an additional four residents of Lilly were arrested. Twenty-nine people were charged with murder.

Lilly was a mining town, and like most of them it had a strong contingent of Catholic and Orthodox miners, members of ethnicities that the Klan didn't like. A strong UMW union town, the residents weren't cowed by the KKK.  A monument to their efforts has been placed in the town in recent years.

Locally, there were concerns about spring floods. And the flight around the globe was suffering delays.

And the accusations against the former Attorney General Daugherty were getting bizarre.

Last prior edition:

Friday, April 4, 1924. Wolves in Albany County.

1920s, 1924, 2020, 2020s, 2024, Animals, baseball, Crime, Prohibition, The Roaring Twenties, Wolves

Year of

Leporidae.  They include sixty different species in more than one genus, all having a very similiar appearance.

Historically, an important food animal around the globe, Wyoming has six different species of hares and rabbits.  Of the rabbits, we have two species of Sylvilagus, the audobonii and the floridanus, which are the Dester Cottontail and the Eastern Cottontail respectively.  

Desert Cottontails hang out constantly in my yard.

 

We also have another rabbit species, the Brachylagus idahoensis, which is the Pygmy rabbit. They're little guys.

And we have three species of hares, the Lepus californicus, the Lepus townsendii and the Lepus americanus, or the Black-tailed jackrabbit, the White-tailed jackrabbit and the Snowshoe hare. They're all big guys.

Cottontail rabbits are delicious, in my experience.  Fried Cottontail is great.  Snowshoe hares are likewise tasty, but tougher.  I have no experience with the others, but lots with these.

And the seasons are still open.