What's up, doc? Some rabbits are rampant, others are endangered

Aug. 7—Bunnies are everywhere in the Granite State, including one species with "the ability to take over" and another that actually is endangered.

See a rabbit in your yard? It's probably an Eastern cottontail, which are not native to the region but recently have run rampant. The "bunny boom" can be annoying to those with gardens.

Less common is the endangered New England cottontail, a native species whose habitat is disappearing, said Heidi Holman, wildlife diversity biologist for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. The species was deemed endangered in the state in 2008.

"(The population) has been declining for decades," she said. "The reason it is declining is because its habitat is very specific. It is really large, dense thickets, which we have a very limited amount of."

New Hampshire also is home to snowshoe hares.

Wildlife officials in the New England states and New York have partnered for a breeding program for New England cottontail. The New England cottontails are then released into habitats that are being created by participating landowners.

Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry was the first private landowner in New Hampshire to manage habitat specifically for New England cottontails.

"We've released only about 100 or so animals in those states in the past 10 years," Holman said. "The breeding is actually really slow and challenging."

The state has pens in the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Newington, where New England cottontails are being raised and later released.

Eastern cottontail

Holman said the Eastern cottontail is the more dominant rabbit. A number of factors determine their migration, including the ability to survive through the winter and less snow because of climate change.

"Now that the Eastern cottontail is moving north in greater numbers, we are very concerned about the implications to our recovery effort," Holman said. Unlike the New England cottontail, Eastern cottontails "do really well in human landscapes," Holman said.

"They love to be under people's porches, under their sheds, and they like to eat out of their gardens," Holman said. "They really have the ability to take over."

Increased suburban developments have enabled the Eastern cottontail to spread further north.

Fish and Game and its partners have asked people to track rabbits.

"The information is really helpful for us because the spread of Eastern cottontails is like tracking invasive plants," Holman said. The species will become more and more part of the landscape.

The data helps biologists know how far north the species is going, she said.

Although slow, the breeding programs of New England cottontail are encouraging, Holman said.

The partners are working with zoos to breed the animals and introducing them to islands offshore that have a reduced number of natural predators, which allows the rabbits to breed.

"We've had great success," Holman said. "Now we are starting to take young rabbits from those islands to populate the mainland."

For more information go to nhrabbitreports.org