New England Cottontail

Restoring a Rare Rabbit

New England cottontails need thick habitat year-round./M. Poole, USFWS

The New England cottontail lives in parts of New England and eastern New York. As the only rabbit native to this area, it's an important part of our natural heritage. Over the last 50 years the range of this once-common rabbit has shrunk and its population has dwindled. Today, biologists believe there are only around 13,000 New England cottontails left.

A critical threat is the loss of habitat – places where rabbits can find food, raise their young, and escape predators. Development has taken much land once inhabited by cottontails and other wildlife. And thousands of acres that used to be young forest (ideal cottontail habitat) have grown up into older woods, where rabbits don't generally live.

Today the New England cottontail is restricted to southern Maine, southern New Hampshire, and parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York east of the Hudson River - less than a fifth of its historic range.

Saving the Cottontail Means Taking Action Now and in the Future

The New England cottontail's preferred thick habitat may last only 10 to 20 years before it thins out and no longer offers high-quality food and hiding cover.

Many habitat projects are creating young forest and shrubland for cottontails. The new Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge will preserve, create, and refresh young forest and shrubland in areas where cottontails live.

Ongoing research improves our knowledge about New England cottontails and how they use their habitats. A captive breeding program boosts cottontail numbers and delivers fresh genes to wild populations. Conservationists have established a population of cottontails on an uninhabited island in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay; biologists have released resulting offspring in different parts of the species' range.

You Can Help!

Explore this website to learn how conservationists are helping the New England cottontail. Support habitat projects that yield jobs, revenue, and sustainable, locally produced timber products along with more and better opportunities for birdwatching, hunting, and viewing wildlife.

Most land in the Northeast is privately owned, so landowners can help wildlife in a big way by signing up to make habitat. Town select boards and conservation commissions can propose projects on municipal lands, and land trusts can make young forest on their holdings. Contact a natural resource professional to learn more. You can also get advice from your state’s wildlife agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, or a certified forester with knowledge of wildlife habitat needs. For some projects, full or partial funding may be available.