HC Deb 23 November 1954 vol 533 c108W
Mr. Patrick Maitland

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland to make a statement on the incidence of myxomatosis among rabbits in the county of Lanark.

Mr. J. Stuart

Three outbreaks of myxomatosis in the Dolphinton district were confirmed on 2nd September, 1954, and two further outbreaks have since been confirmed in the Symington Lamington area. The disease is understood to have spread over some 1,200 to 1,500 acres of woodland and farm land but it is probably more widespread than these figures suggest. The disease is stated to be of a very virulent type, the mortality rate being about 98 per cent. in the areas of the initial outbreaks.