"id have to think that people in the past who lived off the land ate them year round almost, so there must be a way to ensure the safety of the food."

There is: cooking the meat thoroughly kills all of the bacteria. But on a larger scale, I guess the humans who didn't cook their rabbits thoroughly got tularemia and died out. Or if they lived, they had a natural immunity to the bacteria.

They either did not pass on their genes or they passed on some resistant genes.

Thanks Grampa!!

Regards, VIince