Thread: What's up with this hare's liver?

Hey guys,
I bowled over a few hares with the 17HMR this evening and when I went to gut one of them he had spots all over his liver.

I heard rabbits can have TB or some virus that gives them spots on their liver... but I didn't think hares could get it.

I'm not that fond of hare meat anyway (but waste not want not) but after seeing this I left it for the hawks.

Im not sure I thought the spots were white. Those look like cells when looking through a microscope.

Cysts ? seen it in rabbits and left em for the hawks, was later told it was a virus RCD? and was told its still safe to eat, No thanks

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Cysts ? seen it in rabbits and left em for the hawks, was later told it was a virus RCD? and was told its still safe to eat, No thanks

So, cancer? The liver was riddled with those growths.

Once I saw that I thought "no thanks" too. The hawk barely let me get out of the paddock before having a go at it.

Looks a bit spooky. I would just biff it and walk on.

Rimfire you did the right thing by tossing it. My liver probably looks like that as well but the cysts would be for every 100 bottles of whiskey consumed.

Fellow vet nurse reckons this:

Coccidiosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meat would be okay (maybe!) but guts and liver not.

Can hares get liver fluke?

Originally Posted by zimmer

Can hares get liver fluke?

That was her first guess but thought not for whatever reason

Thanks Dougie. One of the chaps on another forum reckoned Tularemia... Hopefully not given how bloody my hands were last night and how many cuts/nicks I end up with.

good work on getting a photo, too many times i see something like that and dont find out why or what caused it