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Press Release
For immediate release: January 26, 2012
Contacts:
RWP Zoo: Lou Perotti, 401-785-3510 x335
Director, RWPZoo Conservation Programs
lperotti@rwpzoo.org
RI DEM: Gail Mastrati, 401 222-4700 x2402
Communications Director
gail.mastrati@DEM.RI.GOV
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Meagan Racey, 413-253-8558
Public Affairs Specialist, Northeast Region
Meagan_racey@fws.gov
PHOTOS AVAILABLE: View and download now
Saving the New England Cottontail Rabbit
RIDEM, USFWS Wildlife Experts, and RWP Zoo Environmentalists attempting
to repopulate the nearly endangered species
PROVIDENCE -- The rare New England cottontail, a native rabbit once abundant throughout this region,
is getting much needed help. Biologists from the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), the
US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the University of Rhode Island have teamed up with Roger
Williams Park Zoo and the Wildlife Management Institute to restore populations by breeding these
rabbits in captivity and releasing them in natural habitat. This program has made promising progress
toward boosting cottontail numbers, while additional partners continue efforts to protect and restore
habitat throughout the range of this species.
The collaborative project aims to help restore sustainable cottontail populations. Currently, the species is
believed to be extirpated from Vermont, with sparse populations throughout the rest of New England.
Recent population surveys conducted by staff wildlife biologists from DEM’s Division of Fish and
Wildlife and USFWS documented only one occurrence of New England cottontail in Rhode Island.
Population surveys and identification of appropriate habitat for New England cottontails in Rhode Island
will continue this year by project partners with the assistance of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory
located at the University of Rhode Island.
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Since late 2010, the partners have captured wild adult cottontails and brought them to a breeding facility
housed in an off-exhibit area of the Zoo. “To try to rebuild a species, first, we have to learn if we can keep
healthy individuals in captivity,” said Lou Perrotti, Director of Conservation Programs at the Zoo.
“We’ve learned that we can. We’ve also learned that we can successfully breed these wild animals in
captivity and raise the young from birth through weaning. Now, we are testing whether the captive born
babies can be released to a wild setting and survive the winter.”
On November 11, the offspring of the wild rabbits, nine bunnies aged three to four months old, were
released at Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge in a one-acre habitat surrounded by predator-proof fencing.
This will allow them to become acclimated to a natural environment without predation pressure. They
will later be released from the pen into the wild. “So far,” says Perrotti, “they seem to be doing well.
Come spring, we’ll have a better idea of whether we’ve developed husbandry protocols that can succeed
on a larger scale.”
This spring, DEM will oversee a pilot release of rabbits bred at the Zoo. It is planned that rabbits will be
released on an island in Narragansett Bay to determine if the animals can survive and reproduce,
potentially to become the source population for other restoration sites in Rhode Island.
“The cottontail’s habitat needs are shared by many other species,” noted DEM Director Janet Coit, “so
there are multiple benefits to this conservation initiative. We are quite enthusiastic about our ongoing
efforts with the Zoo and other partners to restore sustainable populations of this native species.”
“The wide-range effort to save this native animal depends on the expertise and collaboration of partners
like those involved in this project,” says Anthony Tur, Endangered Species Specialist with the US Fish
and Wildlife Service. “Thanks to the dedication of the zoo staff and others, we are now prepared to
expand the program to achieve meaningful conservation goals for the cottontail.”
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RI DEM has monitored rabbits in the state for the past 60 years. Two cottontail species currently exist in
Rhode Island: the native New England cottontail and another similar looking non-native rabbit, the
Eastern cottontail, which was introduced during the 1930s from Missouri. While the non-native Eastern
cottontail population is widespread and abundant, the native rabbit has declined perilously since that
time, according to DEM biologists. The idea to use captive breeding of natives as one potential solution
for saving the New England cottontail was agreed upon by DEM, RWPZ and USFWS, the three principal
partners working in Rhode Island to save the rabbit. Partners from all six New England states have
contributed to the development of this project, including biologists from the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection who captured the first New England cottontails and delivered them to the
Roger Williams Park Zoo to initiate the breeding phase. Genetics testing at the University of Rhode Island
confirmed they were indeed New England cottontails. A Captive Breeding Working Group comprised of
biologists from all six New England states and researchers from URI and the University of New
Hampshire helps to inform and guide the process of transition from the breeding phase through
repopulation efforts.
Funding for the New England cottontail restoration project has come from a wide variety of sources
including the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid Wildlife Restoration Program, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service, University of Rhode Island, and Roger Williams Park Zoo.
Roger Williams Park Zoo, one of the oldest in the nation, is Rhode Island’s number one outdoor family
and tourist attraction and is also a leader in conservation efforts undertaken by a zoo of its size. The Zoo
has received numerous awards for environmental education, and conservation work done locally and
around the world, caring for species that without human intervention would face certain extinction.
Roger Williams Park Zoo is supported and managed by the
Rhode Island Zoological Society and is owned by the City of Providence.
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