KINGSTON, R.I. Apr 03: he elusive native New England cottontail rabbit is the subject of lore and literature. But over the last century, their numbers declined precipitously in our region due to development, landscape change, and the introduction of an invasive rabbit.
Now researchers at the University of Rhode Island are using a two-pronged approach to improve the New England cottontail’s prospects, combining genetic and behavioral approaches at two very different sites: busy Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence and the aptly named Patience Island, off of Warwick.
Breeding programs coupled with translocation form an increasingly important method for conserving imperiled species; the approach has been used in the United States to help conserve pygmy and Riparian brush rabbits, but U.S. islands have rarely been used to produce animals for translocation.
T.J. McGreevy, Jr. in URI’s Department of Natural Resources Science is hoping that islands will help preserve the New England cottontail here.
McGreevey recently finished his 14th season of field trapping the New England cottontail on Patience Island; now his state wildlife biologist collaborators will release the rabbits in New Hampshire and Maine this spring. Each winter they move approximately 30 rabbits off island to the mainland; last winter it was 41.
He’s working with URI colleague Justin Richard; they hope their combined efforts will give the native rabbit a better future, preserving its numbers here for centuries to come.
Richard is working with staff and students at Roger Williams Park Zoo while McGreevy has been coordinating efforts with state and federal wildlife biologists to establish multiple islands as breeding colonies to translocate rabbits to dwindling mainland sites. McGreevy is working with Richard to inform breeding programs at the Roger Williams Park and Queens (N.Y.) zoos to produce individuals that will ultimately be better able to survive and reproduce in the wild. These efforts will be critical to repopulate restored habitats for the species.
They are also sharing their work with the public this spring.
“Our partnerships with the zoos are a great opportunity for us to share the story of New England cottontail conservation with local audiences,” says McGreevy.
Twenty-four undergraduate URI research assistants are working on a project on rabbit mate preference (to maximize breeding success) with Roger Williams Park Zoo. They’ll be at the zoo during April school vacation week, talking with interested guests about the research URI is doing to support the breeding program.
McGreevy and Richard’s work has also been recognized with a grant from the National Science Foundation, in partnership with Allen Family Philanthropies, that supports conservation collaboration; they are using this to further research into this native New England rabbit. The funding allows state biologists, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, zoo personnel, and academics to coordinate their efforts to conserve New England cottontails.
Genetic focus
Each summer, McGreevy hosts URI students in his lab studying rabbit genetics and other wildlife studies. During the winter, he can be found checking traps and cottontail numbers on Patience, a small island just off Prudence Island. The off-the-grid island’s name is a fitting descriptor for McGreevy’s work as he waits for the cottontail numbers to rise there. A summer tourist destination it is not — no electricity, rampant poison ivy, lots of ticks.
But for a cottontail rabbit, it’s perfect.
The island’s dense overgrowth of vines, brush, and briar-filled thickets is the ideal environment for the New England cottontail to find food and protection from predators.
McGreevy works with breeding programs in northern New England as other nearby states have banded together to help save the imperiled cottontail.
The New England cottontail thrived on abandoned farms that transitioned to young forest in the 1960s, providing them with an ideal habitat. Changes in the surrounding forest and the rise in development have meant a loss of habitat for the rabbit and a partitioning of what has remained.
And then there’s its rabbit competition: over 200,000 eastern cottontails were initially brought to New England in the early 1900s. First introduced in Connecticut and New York, the rabbit rapidly populated the region. While originally introduced for hunters, the rabbit has also suffered from the cachet of catching — for hunters, it’s more impressive to hold and show off a deer instead of a rabbit — and so they spread.
“Eastern rabbits are adaptable; that’s part of the problem,” says McGreevy.
The genetically diverse and disease resistant eastern cottontail can flourish in all kinds of habitats. It’s the one you see hopping across your front yard or when walking in the park. McGreevy has even seen the rabbit hopping about downtown at WaterFire in Providence. It can tolerate being out in open areas while the native New England cottontail prefers dense areas.
It can be hard to make the case for a disappearing species when people feel like they are seeing them all over the place, McGreevy comments.
McGreevy says we will not be able to eradicate the eastern cottontail, but hopefully the native New England cottontail can also retain a home here. He’s excited for new support for their project to help URI’s team reach more citizens interested in preserving our New England cottontail and other wildlife for generations to come.
“The public education and programs are needed,” he says.
