OUTDOORS & REC
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATuRDAY, JAnuARY 8, 2022
ODFW warns hunters to watch for rabbit disease
Virus poses no
threat to humans
EO Media Group
SALEM — A virus that
can spread through rabbit
populations and was first
detected in the Portland
area in March 2021 has
been found in a wild rabbit
in Crook County.
The dead black-tailed
jackrabbit was found near
Powell Butte on Dec. 13,
2021, according to the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife (ODFW).
The rabbit hemorrhagic
disease virus 2 (RHDV2)
can cause sudden death in
rabbits and hares. The virus
poses no threat to humans,
but it can infect both wild
and domestic rabbits.
Winter is the most pop-
ular time to hunt rabbits,
and ODFW and the Oregon
Department of Agricul-
ture are asking hunters to
be aware of the disease
and take steps to avoid
spreading it. Domestic
rabbit owners should also
take precautions.
The two state agen-
cies are working together
to monitor the disease and
to try to limit its spread
since it was first detected
in Oregon in feral domestic
rabbits near Portland in
mid-March 2021.
The first known death
from the disease was a
black-tailed jackrabbit
found dead near Rome,
in Malheur County west
of Jordan Valley, in April
2021.
The state veterinary
diagnosis lab confirmed the
cause of death in December
2021.
The second death was
DUNES
Continued from Page B1
I can grasp the basic con-
cept of a snowdrift. If some-
thing interrupts the wind it
necessarily loses some of its
capacity to propel the snow.
This is how cornices form
on the tops of ridges.
But I am hopeless to
understand why, along a
road that’s maybe 15 feet
wide, the wind would scour
down nearly to bare ground
in one spot, while a few feet
away the snow forms a fin
four feet high, its crest as
narrow as a pencil, rather
like a fluff of meringue atop
a lemon pie.
The road is far from flat,
to be sure.
I’ve driven it in summer
often enough to know that
it’s littered with rocks, ruts
and the occasional scorched
limb.
I can’t fathom, though,
how any of this detritus
could serve as the founda-
tion, so to speak, for these
elaborate, powdery pieces of
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
A snowshoe hare.
confirmed in a black-tailed
jackrabbit found in May
2021 near Christmas Valley,
in northern Lake County.
The jackrabbit found
near Powell Butte was about
70 miles from Christmas
Valley, and about 50 miles
from La Pine, where the
virus was detected in feral
domestic and domestic
rabbits.
The virus can with-
stand high and low tem-
peratures and persists for
long periods in decaying
carcasses. Transmission is
often through direct con-
tact but can also be spread
through excretions, via con-
taminated water or food,
and through contaminated
natural art.
But appreciating art, of
course, requires no special
knowledge. This is one of
the great attractions of art, it
seems to me.
We hiked just a mile or
so, to a saddle with a fine
view of Bald Mountain’s
east flank.
The truly heroic drifts/
dunes form a bit farther to
the west, where the Sky-
line Road was hacked out
of the stony brow of the
ridgecrest. We have snow-
shoed up there in the past
and found veritable walls of
snow, taller than a basket-
ball hoop.
The remnants of those
drifts some years block the
road until Memorial Day,
or perhaps even a bit longer.
The first time I no longer
see a white glint on that
ridge, while driving through
Bowen Valley on Highway
7 just south of Baker City,
is for me as sure a sign of
summer’s imminence as
the roar of a lawnmower or
the prick of a mosquito’s
proboscis.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Wind-sculpted snow drifts — or dunes — along the Skyline Road in
Baker County on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
objects or clothing.
Signs of the disease in
rabbits may include respi-
ratory or neurologic symp-
toms as well as bloody
nasal discharge and sudden
death. Often, a rabbit is
found dead with a bloody
nose but no other obvious
external signs of injury.
Rabbits that have clear evi-
dence of trauma, such as
being caught by a cat or
hit by car, are not usually
tested for the virus.
Dead rabbits may be rap-
idly scavenged by other ani-
mals and the camouflaged
coloration of wild rabbit
fur makes them difficult to
see in the field, so it’s very
possible more wild rabbits
have died from the virus,
according to ODFW.
To report suspicious wild
rabbit deaths, call the Wild-
life Health reporting hotline
at 1-866-968-2600 or e-mail
at wildlife.health@odfw.
oregon.gov.
For sick or dead
domestic or feral rabbit
reports, call the Oregon
Department of Agriculture
at 1-800-347-7028 or go to
https://oda.direct/RHD.
Tips to avoid spreading
the virus:
For hunters
• If sick or dead rabbits
are observed in an area, do
not hunt, run dogs, or fly
falconry birds in that area.
Contact ODFW immedi-
ately at 866-968-2600.
• Avoid rabbit hunting
in areas in states where
RHDV2 outbreaks have
been recently documented.
Contact the state wildlife
agency where you will be
hunting for information on
where RHDV2 has been
identified.
• After handling wild
rabbits, wash hands and
change clothing and foot-
wear before handling or
caring for domestic rabbits.
• Do not eat, drink,
or smoke while handling
animals.
• Take precautions when
handling harvested rabbits,
which can carry other dis-
eases including tularemia
that can be fatal to people.
Wear rubber, nitrile, or dis-
posable latex gloves while
handling and cleaning rab-
bits and other game. Wash
hands thoroughly with
warm water and soap or
sanitizer after handling
game. Disinfect all knives,
equipment, and surfaces
that were in contact with
game.
• Thoroughly cook all
game to an internal tem-
perature of 165°F.
• Do not feed game meat
from wildlife that appear
sick, are found dead, or test
positive for a contagious
disease to people or pets,
including falconry birds.
For people raising
domestic rabbits (talk
to your veterinarian
for advice)
• Minimize exposure
to wild rabbits and hares
by keeping your rabbits in
hutches or cages that are
elevated off the ground.
• Keep pet rabbits inside
to avoid exposure to envi-
ronments potentially con-
taminated by wild/feral
rabbits or by people, vehi-
cles or implements that can
spread the disease.
• Do not allow your rab-
bits to graze or roam in
a yard if wild rabbits are
present in your area.
• Restrict visitors to your
rabbitry and limit the han-
dling of the animals by
visitors.
• Avoid transporting or
importing domestic rabbits.
• After visiting a show,
fair, or meeting where
rabbits were comingled,
shower and change clothes
before handling your
rabbits.
• Quarantine new rabbits
away from existing ones for
30 days.
• Know the health status
of the rabbitry from which
you purchase rabbits.
• Be aware of the rabbit
disease status of the state
or country of origin of any
equipment or supplies that
you are purchasing.
• Wash and disinfect
hands, clothing, gloves,
footwear, cages, and equip-
ment between rabbits from
different sources. (RHDV is
inactivated by 10% bleach
to water solution.)
If you find a dead
rabbit
• Wear disposable gloves
when handling rabbit
carcasses.
• Double bag carcasses
and spray outside of bag
with disinfectant.
• Wash hands with
soap and warm water after
handling carcasses and
removing gloves. Dispose
of gloves in trash headed to
landfill.
LEWIS
Continued from Page B1
the mountains.
We take it for granted
winter range will always
be there, that there will
always be a place for deer,
elk and antelope. We are
losing winter range fast.
Oregon’s winter range is
at the center of discussions
from Portland to Salem
to Hermiston, Burns and
Lakeview.
The abundance of sun-
shine in Eastern Oregon
makes it a prime location
for solar farms.
When the sun shines,
solar panel arrays collect
the free energy. Blue sky
days are dependable east
of the Cascades. The more
solar panels there are, pro-
ponents of the technology
tell us, the better we pre-
vent pollution, minimize
waste and conserve natural
resources. Really?
In March 2016, Kate
Brown signed House Bill
4037 into law to offer a
half-cent-per-kilowatt-hour
incentive to large scale
solar projects. Oregon is
moving away from depen-
dence on coal with a man-
date to reach 25% depen-
dence on renewable energy
sources by 2025 and be
100% reliant on renewable
energy by 2030.
The Oregon Solar Plan
(2017) targets 10% solar
power by 2027, powering
500,000 Oregon homes. In
December 2016, Oregon
had 264 megawatts of solar
installations, which was
enough to power 30,000
homes.
We have a long way
to go. We get there by
offering tax breaks to
industry. Right now, incen-
tives for commercial solar
installations include a Fed-
eral Investment Tax Credit,
state and utility rebate pro-
grams and accelerated
depreciation.
Wonder where these
projects will end up?
Eastern Oregon offers the
most dependable blue sky
days and cheap land.
The Oregon Solar Plan
says, “In the very near
future, thriving communi-
ties will share a common
commitment: to harness
and use power from the
sun. These communi-
ties will have robust solar
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
The Oregon solar plan targets 10% solar in 10 years, which will require hundreds of thousands of acres
of solar arrays. Where do you find cheap land and blue skies? The same places mule deer find winter
range.
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
An old growth juniper tree with its roots in an ancient spring.
industries that support
local economic growth and
provide local job opportu-
nities. These communities
will have resilient energy
systems and stable elec-
tricity costs.”
Let’s add another sen-
tence: And no mule deer.
What are the biggest
threats to mule deer? Pred-
ators, poachers, disease,
juniper encroachment,
invasive plants. Maybe
the biggest one is habitat
loss. If predators are the
problem, they tend to stop
expanding when the prey
base is limited. Energy
development doesn’t
stop when deer numbers
decline.
That’s what vineyards,
marijuana grows and solar
farms all have in common.
When the fences go up,
deer, elk, antelope and
even the pygmy rabbits are
locked out.
A lot of people look at
empty sagebrush land or
stands of bitterbrush and
call it junk land. I call it
critical winter range. The
fact that it has no people or
homes on it, the fact that it
is only fit for deer browse,
is what makes it valuable.
Imagine, instead of
a sea of silvered sage-
brush, thousands of acres
of solar panels. Where do
the mule deer go when
snow blankets the Blues
and the Ochocos? With a
solar farm on core winter
range, the only place left
to go is to farm and ranch
lands, where they are not
welcome.
Call it a green revolu-
tion. Call it a land rush.
But the location of solar
farms on empty land has a
cumulative effect. Without
winter range we have no
mule deer.
Each of these projects
are proposed one by one.
Who is studying the cumu-
lative effects?
We are tipping the
scales in favor of the solar
farm industry and those
areas are not available for
mule deer anymore.
Think solar farms will
reduce our carbon foot-
prints? I’d rather see deer
tracks in bitterbrush than
a sea of black mirrors
pointed at the sky.
———
Gary Lewis is the
author of Fishing Central
Oregon and Oregon Lake
Maps and Fishing Guide
and other titles. To contact
Gary, visit www.garylew-
isoutdoors.com.