of Health decided not to allow RHDVa to be imported into New Zealand to control rabbit populations. However, in late August, RHDVa was confirmed to have been deliberately and illegally introduced to the Cromwell area of the South Island. An unsuccessful attempt was made by New Zealand officials to control the spread of the disease. It was, however, being intentionally spread, and several farmers (notably in the Mackenzie Basin area) admitted to processing rabbits that had died from the disease in kitchen blenders for further spreading. Had the disease been introduced at a better time, control of the population would have been more effective, but it was released after breeding had commenced for the season, and rabbits under 2 weeks old at the time of the introduction were resistant to the disease. These young rabbits were, therefore, able to survive and breed rabbit numbers back up. Ten years on, rabbit populations (in the Mackenzie Basin in particular) are beginning to reach near preplague proportions once again, though they have not yet returned to pre-RHD levels. Resistance to RHD in New Zealand rabbits has led to the widespread use of Compound 1080 (Sodium fluoroacetate). The government and department of conservation are having to increase their use of 1080 to protect reserve land from rabbits and preserve the gains made in recent years through the use of RHD. North and South America Isolated outbreaks of RHDVa in domestic rabbits have occurred in the United States, the first of which was in Iowa in 2000. In 2001, outbreaks occurred in Utah, Illinois, and New York. More recent outbreaks of RHDVa have occurred in 2005 in Indiana and 2018 in Pennsylvania. Each of these outbreaks was contained and was the result of separate but indeterminable introductions of RHDVa. RHDVa does not affect the native cottontail and jackrabbits in the United States, so the virus did not become endemic. The first report of RHDV2 virus in North America was on a farm in Québec, in 2016. In 2018, a larger outbreak occurred in feral European rabbits on Delta and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The disease was confirmed later that year in a pet rabbit in Ohio. In July 2019, the first case of RHDV2 in Washington was confirmed in a pet rabbit from Orcas Island. RHDV2 have been reported in domestic rabbits in Washington and New York. In 2020, outbreaks of the disease in domestic