YAKIMA — The bad news is there’s one lonely rabbit in Eastern Washington. The good news: Federal officials have released a plan for getting him some company.
Wildlife biologists have been trying for years to restore populations of the endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, aiming to reintroduce them to the sprawling sageland in their historic range.
But of the 20 tiny rabbits released near Ephrata earlier this year, only a single male remains alive in the wild. Some of the released rabbits may have reproduced, but biologists can’t confirm that, and most of the rabbits have succumbed to predators, said Chris Warren of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
So on Friday, the agency released a draft plan for pygmy rabbit recovery. Key points include managing a captive breeding program, managing genetic characteristics of the rabbits and managing habitat at recovery areas.
“The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is critically endangered, so recovery will require creative efforts,” Ren Lohoefener, director of Fish and Wildlife’s Pacific Region, said in a statement. “Continued collaboration with our partners and stakeholders will give us the best chance at developing an effective recovery plan.”
Pygmy rabbits are the smallest rabbits in North America, weighing about 1 pound and being slightly larger than a man’s hand, and one of only two rabbit species that dig burrows in deep soil. They are found in shrub-steppe habitat with plenty of sagebrush.
The Columbia Basin rabbit, however, has been an isolated population for thousands of years and differs genetically from other pygmy rabbits. None are believed to exist in the wild, though the reasons for their decline are not precisely known. Scientists suspect inbreeding among such a small population was a major factor, and range fires, farming, disease and predators also are thought to have taken their toll.
Their fate has rested in a captive breeding program begun in 2001 with the related Idaho pygmy rabbit.
The Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area where the captive rabbits were released is considered the last native home of the rabbit, which was listed as a state endangered species in 1993 and protected under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2003.
As part of the draft recovery plan, federal officials also will continue to pursue cooperation with land owners in the rabbit’s historic range under a “safe harbor” agreement signed by Fish and Wildlife and the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The agreement allows landowners, after a survey of their land for any wild rabbits, to pay $50 for a permit to be absolved of any harm for violating the Endangered Species Act if they incidentally kill or hurt a rabbit while operating their farm.
At the same time, farmers agree to notify state and federal officials if the rabbits have wandered onto their property from nearby sagebrush stands or if they are beginning any field work that could potentially endanger them.
The permits would be valid for 20 years, after which they could be renewed if pygmy rabbit populations haven’t recovered.
Already, eight farmers have been accepted to the program, covering 38,000 acres. Another eight farmers have applied, bringing total acreage under the program to more than 100,000 acres if they are accepted, Warren said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will accept comments on the recovery plan until Nov. 6.
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