was the next country to report RHD outbreaks following the importation of rabbit fur from Mainland China. RHD has since spread to and become endemic in many countries in Asia, including India and the Middle East. Europe From China, RHDVa spread westward to Europe. The first report of RHD in Europe came from in Italy in 1986. From there, it spread to much of Europe. Spain's first reported case was in 1988, and France, Belgium, and Scandinavia followed in 1990. Spain experienced a large die-off of wild rabbits, which in turn caused a population decline in predators that normally ate rabbits, including the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle. RHD caused by RHDVa was reported for the first time in the United Kingdom in 1992. This initial epidemic was brought under control in the late 1990s using a combination of vaccination, strict biosecurity, and good husbandry. The newer viral strain RHDV2 was first detected in England and Wales in 2014, and soon spread to Scotland and Ireland. In 2010, a new virus variant called rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) emerged in France. RHDV2 has since spread from France to the rest of Europe, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Outbreaks started occurring in the United States and Vancouver Island Canada in 2019. RHD was detected for the first time in Finland in 2016. The outbreak occurred in feral European rabbits, and genetic testing identified the viral strain as RHDV2. Cases of viral transmission to domesticated pet rabbits have been confirmed, and vaccinating rabbits has been recommended. Oceania In 1991, a strain of the RHDVa virus, Czech CAPM 351RHDV, was imported to Australia under strict quarantine conditions to research the safety and usefulness of the virus if it were used as a biological control agent against Australia and New Zealand's rabbit pest problem. Testing of the virus was undertaken on Wardang Island in Spencer Gulf off the coast of the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In 1995, the virus escaped quarantine and subsequently killed 10 million rabbits within 8 weeks of its release. In March 2017, a new Korean strain known as RHDV K5 was successfully released in a deliberate manner after almost a decade of research. This strain was chosen in part because it functions better in cool, wet regions where the previous Calicivirus was less effective. In July 1997, after considering over 800 public submissions, the New Zealand Ministry