Collaborative research led by the University of East Anglia has identified one of the causes of recent deaths in UK European brown hare populations.Working together with diagnostic laboratories in England, Scotland and Germany, the first UK cases of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus type 2 (RHDV2) have been detected in dead hares found in two locations—Essex and Dorset. Researchers from UEA joined forces with Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex Wildlife Trusts, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the APHA Surveillance Intelligence Unit to investigate the cause of hare deaths following reports of sick and dead hares from members of the public.Lead researcher Dr. Diana Bell, from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “RHDV2 normally affects rabbits, but the disease is known to have jumped to European brown hares in Italy, Spain, France and Australia.