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Show Exercise Caution in Hunting Cottontails contracting of the disease. According to Division of Wildlife Resources biologists, the chances for human contagion should be very limited if rabbits are hunted during the cold months of the year. Tularemia in cottontails has proved to be fatal to the animal in every instance. The disease coupled with the stresses of cold weather survival kills the sick animals before the hunter has the opportunity to harvest a diseased rabbit. But by following a few basic common-sense rules, the hunter can eliminate all reason for fear. First, avoid any rabbit that does not act in a normal manner. Rabbits harboring the disease behave oddly, run slowly and can easily be captured. Secondly, when dressing a harvested rabbit, wear rubber gloves. Humans most With the beginning of each new rabbit hunting season seems to come the perennial question, "What about rabbit fever?" Rabbit fever, or tularemia as it is scientifically called, is a malady that is generally little understood even by the most avid sportsman; but with the use of a little common sense and care, there is no reason for it to be dreaded. Tularemia was first identified in the year 1911 when experiments were conducted in response to growing evidence that rabbit fever was an occupational disease of marketmen who had skinned and dressed cottontail rabbits. The causitive agent was first found by a team of researchers in Tulare County, California, and as a result the disease was given the name tularemia. Since its initial identification, iden-tification, tularemia has teen found in all of the continental United States with the exception of Vermont; Ver-mont; and a number of different means have been identified for its tran-mission. tran-mission. The deerfly was found to transmit the disease from rabbit to rabbit, and the wood tick was also found to be a host and vector of the illness. But tularemia does not just affect rabbits; experiments as far back as 1926 proved that birds were susceptible to the disease. The concern with the hunter is the potential for his frequently contract tularemia through contact with contaminated flesh. Thirdly, cook rabbit meat thoroughly. The heat of cooking destroys the disease-causing organism. Finally, the disease in man responds effectively to a number of broad-spectrum antibiotics; and even if contracted, can be cured readily with no complications. |