Hi there, when me and my friend was out walking today we found a wild rabbit with really bad conjunctivitis and looked as if it had been in a fight, so we approached it and it didnt move so we concluded it was hurt so i had a spare top in my bag that we used to pick it up so we could take it to the nearest vet and discovered it was bleeding from its hind legs, the rabbit scratched me and so we put it back down and then noticed it had lice, after this it ran away and we couldnt see it!

Did we do the right thing? Do you think it will be ok and is it possible to catch lice off the wild rabbit and if so what should i do?

Thanks Natz

Apologies for taking so long to reply - I did answer you straight away but I think I did something wrong in posting my reply!!
It sounds very much as if the rabbit was suffering from myxomatosis, a man-made disease developed in the 1950s to control the rabbit population. It is spread by fleas, which is probably what you saw on the rabbit rather than lice. There is no cure for this disease & the kindest course of action is to have the rabbit put to sleep to save it from a long, lingering death.

myxomatosis sounds messed up honestly! That is quite cruel, do you know if humans still use these practices?

Just a note Myxy is not man made it was introduced to Europe from a rabbits suffering from it from South america where it had less of an effect on the local species.