Does farm rabbits have rabies?

Question

Hi i was in a farm with over 100 grey rabbits, [ they were inside cages ] and uh, those are the type of rabbit that get eaten or sold to super market... if people eat them.. won't they get rabies?

Answer 1

Any mammal can contract rabies, however it would be rare in a domestic animal.  To be infected, the animal has to have direct contact with an infected animal's saliva.  The odds of a food rabbit contracting rabies would be the same as the odds of any other food animal contracting rabies (like pigs, cows, etc).  The rabies virus can infect any warm-blooded animal.  A human could not contract rabies by eating the flesh of an infected animal, to my knowledge.  It is spread by being bitten by an infected animal.  Read here for details about the rabies virus and how it is spread: http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/