Saving the New England Cottontail
augment existing populations.” Alongside the reintroduction efforts, he added, is a habitat restoration component in which several other partner institutions participate. According to Perrotti, the National Wildlife Refuge serves as a perfect location in which to introduce captive-bred New England cottontails into their natural habitat. The park’s 350In July, Roger William Park Zoo’s director of conservation
acre release site is the ideal spot to ease the rabbits into their
programs Lou Perrotti was joined by agents from U.S. Fish &
transition to life in the wild.
Wildlife Service and University of Rhode Island biologists in releasing a pair of New England cottontails at Charlestown’s Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge.
said Perrotti, referencing the park’s voraciously growing grasses, shrubs and thickets which provide excellent food
The New England cottontail, a species of rabbit native to
and shelter for native wildlife. “The Refuge is also the last site
parts of New England and New York, is closely related to
where we observed wild New England cottontails in Rhode
the non-native Eastern cottontail, the most common rabbit
Island, back in 2006.”
species in North America. Both habitat loss and competition with its Eastern cousin have decimated New England cottontail populations over the last 50 years.
Since 2010, New England Cottontail captive breeding institutions have made promising progress toward boosting cottontail numbers, releasing over 300 captive-bred
Researchers from the International Union for Conservation
specimens into the wild. Partners also work to protect and
of Nature estimate there are less than 17,000 New England
restore habitat throughout the range of this species. Roger
cottontails left in the wild, spread throughout southern
Williams Park Zoo continues to play an integral role in restoring
Maine, southern New Hampshire, parts of Massachusetts,
New England cottontail populations through breeding and
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York east of the Hudson
reintroduction programs.
River. The remaining cottontails in the wild occupy less than one fifth of their historic range.
7
“It’s a perfect early successional habitat, which they prefer,”
The Zoo’s New England cottontail program, like many others, was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in early
“It’s our only native cottontail rabbit,” said Perrotti. “The goal
2020. After successful years in 2018 and 2019 - seeing over
for the project is to breed rabbits in captivity and reintroduce
150 specimens released into locations around New England
them throughout New England to create new populations and
- the rapid spread of the virus brought the 2020 breeding
