Cottontails need room to breed like bunnies
The New England cottontail was once so common that Massachusetts
author Thornton Burgess adapted one named Peter for the children’s
stories he penned a century ago.
But the critter that inspired “The Adventures of Peter Cottontail” and the enduring song that came later faces an uncertain future. Its natural habitat is disappearing, and without intervention, it could be unhappy trails for the once-bountiful bunny.
Conservationists are hoping a new program to restore shrub land across the Northeast and captive breeding efforts will help ensure the New England cottontail sticks around for many Easters to come.
“We’re making headway, putting habitat on the ground in some really key places,” said Anthony Tur, an endangered-species specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The New England cottontail is the only rabbit species native to the region east of the Hudson River. They were abundant a century ago, thriving in an environment of shrubs, saplings, weeds and vines known as young forest. But in an uncommon turn of events, it is declining human activity to blame for its lost habitat — not urban sprawl.
As neglected agricultural lands reverted back to forest and those forests matured, the population of New England cottontails thinned. More than 80 percent of their habitat disappeared over the past 50 years, according to the nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute.
And now conservationists are trying to prevent the New England cottontail from appearing on the endangered species list, a designation that would require a more urgent — and costly — response that could restrict land use and hunting.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Resources Conservation Service are working with landowners and zoos to restore natural habitat and use captive breeding to rebuild the population.
BREEDING PROGRAM
But the critter that inspired “The Adventures of Peter Cottontail” and the enduring song that came later faces an uncertain future. Its natural habitat is disappearing, and without intervention, it could be unhappy trails for the once-bountiful bunny.
Conservationists are hoping a new program to restore shrub land across the Northeast and captive breeding efforts will help ensure the New England cottontail sticks around for many Easters to come.
“We’re making headway, putting habitat on the ground in some really key places,” said Anthony Tur, an endangered-species specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The New England cottontail is the only rabbit species native to the region east of the Hudson River. They were abundant a century ago, thriving in an environment of shrubs, saplings, weeds and vines known as young forest. But in an uncommon turn of events, it is declining human activity to blame for its lost habitat — not urban sprawl.
As neglected agricultural lands reverted back to forest and those forests matured, the population of New England cottontails thinned. More than 80 percent of their habitat disappeared over the past 50 years, according to the nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute.
And now conservationists are trying to prevent the New England cottontail from appearing on the endangered species list, a designation that would require a more urgent — and costly — response that could restrict land use and hunting.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Resources Conservation Service are working with landowners and zoos to restore natural habitat and use captive breeding to rebuild the population.
BREEDING PROGRAM
The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island began breeding the New
England cottontail in captivity two years ago. Officials there have
already released 38 young rabbits tagged with radio collars into
restored habitats in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. They expect to
release 100 more later this year.
Lou Perrotti, director of conservation programs at the zoo, said the New England cottontail had not previously been bred in captivity, so his staff is “writing the book on husbandry and reproduction of the species.”
Lou Perrotti, director of conservation programs at the zoo, said the New England cottontail had not previously been bred in captivity, so his staff is “writing the book on husbandry and reproduction of the species.”
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