The pygmy rabbit is the world’s smallest rabbit, but the threat it faces is enormous. This tiny animal depends on sagebrush habitat for food, shelter, and survival across parts of the interior West.
Conservation groups are now suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a missed legal deadline. Earthjustice reports that Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians sued to force the agency to decide whether pygmy rabbits should receive Endangered Species Act protection.
WildEarth Guardians says the groups first petitioned for protection in March 2023. The Fish and Wildlife Service later found that listing may be warranted, but missed the deadline for a final decision.
Pygmy rabbits depend on sagebrush to survive.
Sagebrush Is Their World
Pygmy rabbits are tied closely to sagebrush. They eat it, hide in it, and use deep soils nearby to dig burrows. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife describes pygmy rabbits as sagebrush obligates that depend on dense sagebrush stands for year-round food and shelter.
KUNR Public Radio reported that pygmy rabbits live in sagebrush habitat across Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, California, Oregon, and Washington. Conservationists say that habitat is increasingly threatened by wildfire, invasive grasses, oil and gas development, and climate change.
WyoFile reported that federal wildlife officials previously cited compound threats from fire, cheatgrass, and climate change when finding that protections may be warranted.
The world’s smallest rabbit needs federal protection.
Delay Can Become Extinction Pressure
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s species profile lists the petition to protect the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act. The agency knows the question is active. It should not push the final answer years into the future.
Endangered Species Act deadlines exist for a reason. Habitat can be lost while agencies delay. For pygmy rabbits, lost sagebrush is not an inconvenience. It is lost food, shelter, breeding space, and protection from predators.
Federal officials should issue the overdue finding by a binding deadline and protect key sagebrush habitat while the review proceeds.
Sign the petition to urge federal wildlife officials to stop delaying pygmy rabbit protections and safeguard the sagebrush habitat this tiny species needs to survive.
